Munich / Mühldorf - Deutsche Bahn wants to explore new territory.
From December 2024, hydrogen trains will be on the road on two lines of the Südostbayernbahn (SOB).
This was announced by the Bavarian Railway Company, which has now tendered the entire SOB route network.
The new transport contract starts in 2024 and ends in 2032. Since the term is relatively short at eight years, it would not be a surprise if the previous operator - the SOB - keeps the routes.
One of the conditions in the tender is more interesting: hydrogen trains are to run between Passau and Mühldorf and Burghausen and Mühldorf in the future.
It is a “pilot project”, emphasizes BEG spokesman Wolfgang Oeser.
Of course, some investments are necessary for this, including the construction of a hydrogen filling station in Mühldorf.
And a total of ten trains have to be procured.
So far, the manufacturers have not had many prototypes on the market - hydrogen technology is still new.
The "Coradia iLint" from Alstom could be an option.
A first attempt to test hydrogen trains on the Oberlandbahn network was thankfully rejected by the operator Transdev: too risky.
The fact that the BEG has now selected routes in the SOB network for the test was not entirely voluntary, but based on political guidelines.
According to the embassy, Bavaria should also show something in this future technology.
The BEG's opinion warns of a hydrogen experiment
Since 2017, the BEG has had an expert report from the TU Dresden in which hydrogen trains are rated as "most expensive in almost all scenarios".
And whether in the end the passengers will not have to pay for the attempts because the vehicles are prone to breakdown is an open question.
Those familiar with the SOB network would have preferred if battery-powered vehicles were tested.
In addition, the Mühldorf-Burghausen route is to be electrified - it makes little sense to experiment with hydrogen there, of all places.