CP’s hydrogen locomotive makes first revenue run
Experimental fuel-cell unit, converted SD40-2F, makes freight-hauling debut in Alberta
CANADIAN PACIFIC’S EXPERIMENTAL hydrogen fuel-cell locomotive made its maiden run in late October 2022 in Calgary, Alberta, taking the first step in determining whether the technology could one day replace diesel-electric locomotives.
“I’ll tell you, the excitement around it, the potential of it, is real,” CEO Keith Creel told the RailTrends conference in November. “And to see it two weeks ago, running down the main line at mainline speed pulling a load behind it, I mean it made the hairs on my arm stand up, because I would have told you two years ago it’s a pipe dream. … Well, it’s not a pipe dream. It’s a reality. Still a lot of work left to do, but it’s super, super exciting.”
Home-built unit No. 1001, a converted SD40-2F, is dubbed H2 0EL for “hydrogen zero-emissions locomotive.” The Oct. 28 revenue test run was the second mainline foray for the unit this year, which uses hydrogen fuel cells and batteries to power its electric traction motors.
CP is using solar power to produce hydrogen at its Calgary headquarters. It also has a separate hydrogen production facility in Edmonton. CP is partnering with the Alberta provincial government to build a DC-traction version as well as another AC-traction unit.
By the end of 2023, CP expects to have the three locomotives switching customers in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.
“The next step is scalability,” Creel says, through partnering with a customer to build enough road locomotives to prove the technology on the rugged CP main line in the Canadian Rockies west of Calgary.
“It’s the perfect test bed. If you can operate there — heavy haul, cold temperatures, the most challenging operational conditions I’ve ever experienced in my career … it will work anywhere,” Creel says. If the tests are successful, fuel-cell locomotives would likely be deployed in local service until the railway can create a hydrogen fueling network and build tenders to extend the locomotives’ range.
Creel emphasized that the hydrogen project is very much an experiment and CP is not betting the farm on its effort to create a green locomotive.
Alberta is aiming to transition to a hydrogen-based economy as part of a push toward cleaner energy supplies. CP would haul hydrogen from Alberta to customers across its system, as well as to its own fueling facilities.
Creel spoke at the RailTrends conference sponsored by trade publication Progressive Railroading and independent analyst Anthony B. Hatch.