The UK’s first fuel cell train at work
Rail Live visitors will have the opportunity to see and hopefully ride behind the UK’s first fuel cell locomotive, built by the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE).
In 2012, BCRRE took part in the first ever Institution of Mechanical Engineers Railway Challenge (a competition for university students, graduates and apprentices to design and manufacture a 10¼in gauge locomotive compliant with detailed specifications).
BCRRE’s researchers realised that there was a need to develop and showcase new autonomous propulsion systems for the railway, to provide future options for autonomous railway vehicles. Their studies had shown that hydrogen fuel cells were a good candidate to provide this technology, and the decision was made to develop the UK’s first hydrogen fuel cell locomotive.
Since then BCRRE has put as much technology into the locomotive as possible. The train has been developed since the 2012 model, and is now a hybrid with supercapacitor energy storage, a silicon carbide inverter drive, and permanent magnet AC motors.
This year’s team is overhauling the final drive system and suspension, and providing a more dynamic-looking train.
BCRRE is working more widely with the industry in the UK and overseas to accelerate the introduction of the technology, and has completed several collaborative research projects advancing the understanding of how the railway can use hydrogen fuel cells.
Stuart Hillmansen, Senior Lecturer in Electrical Energy Systems at the University of Birmingham, said: “Our researchers have shown there is a huge potential for hydrogen fuel cells to provide clean and efficient propulsion for urban and rural railway services, and therefore a vital contribution towards de-carbonisation of the railway.”