Kaufbeuren / Buchloe - When the sky-blue hydrogen train from the Alstom company rolled through the bright blue Allgäu on a test drive last Monday, it was at least worth a detour to the country for the political celebrities. At the Kaufbeuren train station, the Bavarian Prime Minister, Dr. Markus Söder and Transport Minister Kerstin Schreyer got into the modern rail vehicle and tested saying goodbye to the diesel locomotive on the journey to Buchloe. Much to the annoyance of the passenger association Pro Bahn, who afterwards criticized the appearance of Söder and Minister Schreyer as "pure election campaign noise".
For a long time, politicians of all stripes have been insisting on promoting the electrification of the railways in the region.
There is even talk of a "diesel hole" in the Allgäu.
The approach of replacing diesel trains with operation with hydrogen seems tempting.
For the current test drive, a prototype of the “Coradia iLint” from Alstom came from Baden-Württemberg to Bavaria.
It is the world's first hydrogen train for passenger transport and has already proven itself in more than two years of trial operation.
Test drive through the Allgäu
Prime Minister Söder and Minister of Transport Schreyer also described the test drive through the Allgäu as a success.
Fortunately, there are also several environmentally friendly technical options for demanding rail networks such as in the Allgäu, according to the two politicians.
Söder adds that hydrogen makes an important contribution to climate neutrality.
And he promises: "By 2040, the trains should be converted from diesel to alternative drives."
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Quiet and emission-free on the move: the hydrogen train from Alstom.
© Alstom
The Minister of Transport also confirms that she is doing a lot for the climate, because, according to Schreyer, 19 percent of CO2 emissions in Germany come from the transport sector.
"By the end of the year, I will present a nationwide roadmap for the decarbonization (ie the move away from carbon, editor's note) of local rail passenger transport in the Free State," the minister said.
The first test run of several months in Bavaria, albeit with a battery hybrid train, is already planned for the coming year on the Franconian Lake District Railway.
In the Allgäu, an almost three-year test run with the prototype of a pure hydrogen traction vehicle from Siemens is to take place from 2023.
Criticism from Pro Bahn
“All the campaign noise”, writes the passenger association Pro Bahn and accuses the CSU politicians of having themselves photographed in front of a train that is only used on branch lines instead of actually removing the obstacles of the traffic turnaround. Timm Kretschmar, member of the Bavarian state board of Pro Bahn, does not mince his words when he explains: “Anyone who is halfway involved with the topic knows that hydrogen propulsion in rail traffic is at most suitable for use on a few remote branch lines. The trains can neither call up the required power on main lines, nor are they economical in their approach compared to the two available alternatives, electrification and battery-powered railcars and their combination. "The association doubts thatthat a hydrogen train will be the most economical solution for the Allgäu test track. For the route from Lindau via Kempten to Buchloe, only electrification is considered in the long term.
Dr. Lukas Iffländer, Deputy Bavarian State Chairman of Pro Bahn, says just as bluntly: "The campaign is about PR in the election campaign and not about the start of a real traffic turnaround." And Kretschmar adds: "Now take a picture of yourself out of the blue in front of a hydrogen train to leave is not particularly credible. ”The Passenger Association is calling for the federal and state governments to electrify all main routes on which at least two trains per hour run. This is the only way to achieve sufficient profitability.
The Bundestag member Stephan Stracke, who initiated the test drive in the Allgäu in talks with Alstom, holds against it: “Our goal is to create a more attractive local rail transport in the Allgäu that is faster, quieter and climate-neutral. That is why we have to say goodbye to diesel as soon as possible. In addition, the electrification of the Munich-Memmingen-Lindau line has significantly reduced the number of direct connections from the Allgäu to Munich. This situation must improve for commuters. When saying goodbye to diesel in local rail passenger transport, there are several environmentally friendly technical options. One of them could be a hydrogen train. Whether the hydrogen train is the preferable option for the Allgäu needs to be considered intensively. "
From Stracke's point of view, the full electrification of the Allgäu is clearly preferable. However, the use of a battery hybrid train on the Augsburg-Füssen and Augsburg / Munich routes via Buchloe-Kaufbeuren-Kempten-Hergatz is at least a suitable interim solution, as the MP said, if full electrification is only possible in stages. "In this way we would have our foot in the door for full electrification and avoid new isolated solutions."