The new zero-emission train, known as Zemu, will run through an area that has long suffered from poor air quality. Will it be the start of a clean energy rail movement in the US?

There’s a new train pulling into the station in San Bernardino, a southern California city about 60 miles from Los Angeles. From the outside, it looks like any other commuter train, with three passenger carriages, blocky windows and a colourful blue exterior.

But inside, it’s unlike anything the region – or the country – has seen before. The $20m Zero-Emission Multiple Unit, known as Zemu, uses a hybrid hydrogen fuel cell and battery system to propel the train and run other onboard electrical systems. The only byproduct of the fuel cell is water vapour, a welcome change in an area known as the Inland Empire that suffers from some of the worst air quality rates in the country.

The new technology will make Zemu the first hydrogen-powered, zero-emissions passenger train in North America to meet Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requirements when it goes into service early next year.

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  • davelAEnglish
    11·
    4 months ago

    the first hydrogen-powered, zero-emissions passenger train

    That depends entirely on how the hydrogen is being produced: it’s an energy storage medium, not an energy source.

    Though the onboard process does not directly emit greenhouse gases, the production processes to create hydrogen fuel in the US almost always do.

    • fpslem@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      4·
      4 months ago

      100% agree, this article glosses over that (and many other aspects) of this supposedly newfangled system.

    • usrtrvEnglish
      3·
      4 months ago

      But what’s wrong with working in parallel? Develop hydrogen while the grid becoming greener. A traditional electric train has the same issue of being grid based.