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Soon to be on the road with bio-diesel: the driver's cab of a Deutsche Bahn diesel railcar
Photo: Daniel Karmann/ picture alliance/dpa
Deutsche Bahn wants to completely ban and replace diesel fuel from its fleet by 2040.
"Our 3,000 diesel vehicles will be gradually running on alternative fuels starting this year," said Deutsche Bahn boss Richard Lutz.
The company is already planning to switch to 100 percent green electricity.
According to Lutz, the next step is "the gradual abolition of diesel" by 2040. It is one of the "central ecological projects" of Deutsche Bahn.
According to the company, it wants to work with biofuels that are to be produced from residual and waste materials.
In this way, the production does not compete with food production.
Existing diesel engines would not have to be converted for this.
For its plan to be climate-neutral by 2040, Deutsche Bahn must quickly convert its locomotives.
However, the most important part is on the power grid.
In long-distance traffic, the train runs almost entirely under the electric overhead line, and according to its own information, the railway covers 90 percent of all train kilometers electrically.
The move away from diesel is therefore focused on local transport, so two thirds of the route is currently supplied with electricity.
Deutsche Bahn has been testing eco-diesel since summer 2020, which is said to reduce CO2 emissions by 90 percent.
According to the information, new vehicles should only be purchased with hydrogen or battery drives in the future.
Corresponding tests with battery-powered trains are to follow in the coming months.
It was only in mid-January that the freight subsidiary DB Cargo announced that it intended to replace all diesel locomotives with more modern drives in the medium term.
The fleet is to be supplemented, among other things, with so-called two-power locomotives.
These can switch between conventional diesel and modern electric drive and can therefore be used both on electrified track sections and on branch lines without overhead lines.
kig/dpa