Metrolinx pumps brakes on GO Trains powered by hydrogen
Transit agency spent $7 million and four years on shelved proposal for expanding network
Metrolinx has pulled the plug on its exploration of hydrogen-powered trains for the GO Transit network after determining the technology was too much of a gamble.
The former Ontario Liberal government launched the assessment of hydrogen rail technology, or hydrail, in 2017, for potential use in a major expansion of GO regional rail service.
As the Star has previously reported, from the outset, senior Metrolinx figures expressed grave doubts behind the scenes about the environmentally friendly technology, and after spending four years and $7 million looking into the issue, the agency has concluded those doubts were well-founded.
Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said in an email that while the agency determined hydrail is “a feasible technology,” feedback provided by the rail industry made clear it was unlikely to meet the regional rail network’s requirements “in the immediate term.”
Aikins said the agency found hydrail hasn’t been used on the scale necessary for GO expansion, and “there are questions that remain unanswered … regarding fuel production, storage and transport as well as refuelling.”
As a result, hydrogen technology has not been included in a reference concept design for the $17-billion GO expansion, which Metrolinx is in the midst of procuring.
Under the plan, Metrolinx, an armslength provincial agency that oversees GO, hopes to quadruple train service from 1,500 to 6,000 trips a week, which will require electric trains more efficient than its current diesel-electric fleet.
Hydrail uses electric power to generate hydrogen fuel that’s stored in cells on board trains, and the only resulting exhaust is steam and condensed water. Metrolinx pitched the technology as having the potential to avoid the complexities of traditional electrification, which requires building overhead wires along the length of the rail corridor.
The industry concerns Metrolinx cited in rejecting the technology echo private comments agency officials made soon after then-transportation minister Steven Del Duca announced the hydrail initiative in June 2017.
In a September 2017 email to colleagues obtained through a freedom of information request and previously reported on by the Star, Phil Verster, who was then the incoming Metrolinx CEO, warned hydrail was an “untested” application the organization couldn’t afford to bet GO’s future on.
At the time, a hydrogen-powered train was set to launch in Germany, but the vehicles had never been put into service on anything approaching the scale being contemplated for GO.
“I therefore cannot see how we can include this in the (GO expansion) scope as it is simply not ready,” Verster wrote.
Howard Shearer, then a Metrolinx board member, told the board chair in a June 2017 email it was “simply madness” for Ontario government to consider deploying the technology.
Asked why Metrolinx proceeded with the hydrail assessment despite serious concerns of its CEO and others, Aikins said the organization believes it’s important to “be open to pursuing and studying innovative technologies” as it expands the network.
The hydrail project was originally budgeted at up to $10.9 million, but Aikins said only $7 million was spent. About $1.5 million was for a feasibility study, $2.1 million for concept design, and $160,000 for a hydrogen technology symposium held in Toronto in November 2017.
About $570,000 was paid through a sole-sourced contract to Hydrogenics, a Mississauga-based company that supported design work. Aikins said Metrolinx believed Hydrogenics, which designed the fuel cells for the German train, was the only company with the required expertise.
Because the ultimate design of the GO expansion project will be left up to the firm that wins the procurement contract, Aikins said it’s possible a bidder could include hydrogen-powered trains in its submission in some form, such as a limited pilot project. But the technology’s exclusion from the reference design indicates Metrolinx believes it can’t be relied on.