Polish rolling stock manufacturer, PESA, and Swedish rail companies Väte Rail and Hankavik have entered into an agreement to introduce hydrogen fuel cell shunting locomotives – powered by Ballard – into operational service in Sweden.
The collaboration will deliver zero-emission locomotive units, including hydrogen refueling infrastructure, and the creation of a sustainable hydrogen ecosystem – utilizing green energy sources – with the first fuel cell locomotives expected to enter service by the end of 2027.
The program’s primary unit to be deployed is PESA’s SM42-6Dn 4-axle, which is the first certified hydrogen-powered shunting locomotive to be approved for the European market.
Having undergone extensive trials, the SM42-6Dn locomotive passed preliminary operational testing at PESA's facility in Bydgoszcz, Poland in August 2022, before being showcased alongside a mobile refueling station at the InnoTrans international tradeshow in Berlin, Germany a month later. The Railway Institute's certification tests were completed in December of that year, before receiving operational approval from Poland's Office of Rail Transport in June 2023, and subsequently entering service with PKN ORLEN.
Ballard's modular fuel cell design enables flexible integration of components into the vehicle drivetrain, offers better performance, fuel efficiency, and resilience by preventing degradation of the fuel cell power unit, and Ballard's proven performance and reliability is demonstrated through exceptional availability and module lifetime - with more than 30,000 hours of operation of the fuel cell in the field without failure.
Väte Rail is a carrier that has recently signed a contract to service shunting work for a global player in steel production, with the agreement assuming decarbonization of all shunting work. Väte Rail is working towards this zero-emission goal by deploying PESA’s hydrogen locomotive for its operations. Prior to commencing the project, the SM42-6Dn locomotive has been tested in real-world operating conditions for shunting work at the railway sidings in Inowrocław, Poland - which involved hauling a rake of 43 wagons at 10km/h with a gross load of over 2,200 tons.
Väte Rail plans to complete full decarbonization of its entire transport operations by 2030, with the ambition of being the greenest rail carrier in the industry – prioritizing the myriad functional benefits of hydrogen across its fleet.
Engaging with the public on the benefits of hydrogen-powered rail, and the SM42-6Dn shunter in particular, PESA and its project partners recently conducted 10 days of demonstrations, tests, and presentations across Sweden, with a hydrogen roadshow being delivered to potential customers from Stockholm and Göteborg, to Trelleborg and Malmö.
The events took place between May 5-15, including Scandinavia’s largest railway trade fair – Train & Rail – where the hydrogen-powered shunting locomotive completed special demonstrations, before successfully completing similar operational tasks under observation at the nearby Årsta Kombiterminal.
With demonstrations focused on performance under industrial conditions, which involved hauling loads of between 950-1,500 tons, Väte Rail's CEO, Filip Forslund, has expressed the company's satisfaction with the results on initial testing, remarking positively on the locomotive's ability to tackle challenging routes and gradients without issue.