The Ministry of Transportation has approved the acquisition of 12 hydrogen trains as part of a pilot project to demonstrate the viability of green trains.
Bucharest – Otopeni Airport and Bucharest – Pitesti will be among the routes offered. The project’s overall anticipated cost is 973 million euros, exclusive of VAT.
The Railway Reform Authority’s pilot project seeks to acquire 12 160-seat locomotives, as well as long-term vehicle maintenance and repair services and hydrogen supply.
The pilot project “on the use of locomotives in electric traction powered by hydrogen fuel cells in order to fulfill the obligation of public passenger transport on non-electrified railway lines” will serve routes north of Bucharest and Ilfov County, as well as the neighboring counties of Argeș, Dâmbovița, and Giurgiu, via high-frequency services. The trains will reach the counties of Olt and Dolj due to the reliability of the new vehicles.
Trains will operate on the following routes every 30 minutes or hour:
- North Station and Otopeni Airport Trains
- Gara de Nord – Chitila – Săbăreni and Titu
- Bucharest – Gaesti – Pitesti
- Bucharest and Targoviste
- There are 4 trains a day from Bucharest to Slatina – Craiova via Pitești.
Passengers will be able to board trains with their bicycles, and the trains will be wheelchair accessible.
The investment project is financed with non-reimbursable external funding via the National Recovery and Resilience Program #PNRR and with state money via the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure’s budget.
Replacing diesel traction with electric traction powered by hydrogen fuel cells reduces transport pollution by the equivalent of over € 600,000 per year and, for example, 18,348 tonnes of CO2 and 306 tonnes of NOx per year, thereby contributing to the achievement of European and national targets for a zero-pollution effect in 2050.
