RegioHyt

About the project:

The objective of this project is to analyze the Czech railways and locate areas where hydrogen train technology would be a preferred technical, economic and environmental solution compared with other train technologies. This study will examine and collect initial data especially from the non-electrified railways where diesel train are operated. Through the methodology and software developed by SINTEF, the analysis will generate techno-economic analyses and make a comparison ranking of train technologies solution between diesel, battery, hydrogen and hybrid trains. The results will allow to identify preferred areas with a beneficial techno, economic and environmental outcome by deploying low-emission trains for replacing future decommissioned diesel trains on non-electrified railway.

2021

In the first year of the project duration, activities were carried out in accordance with the project
proposal. Namely, the following activities:

• monitoring of existing and description of potential new hydrogen sources in the Czech Republic
  (Task 1)
• development of a methodology for selection of suitable routes (Task 2)
• selection of 16 routes (Task 2)
• verification of the applicability of simulation method (Task 3)

During the year 2021, the project team met regularly on the first Tuesday of each month. Due to epidemiological limitations, all meetings were held on-line. In addition to the above activities, one webinar in English and one face-to-face workshop in Czech were organised for professional society.

2022

In the second year of the project duration, activities were carried out in accordance with the project
proposal. Namely, the following activities:

• update of existing and potential new hydrogen sources in the Czech Republic, hydrogen
  production modelling (Task 1)
• finalisation of a methodology for lines selection and railway data collection (Task 2)
• techno-economic analysis of R14 Line (Task 3)
• initial definition of feasibility study structure (Task 4)

During the year 2022, the project team met regularly each first Tuesday of the month. Two personal working meetings of whole research teams were held in the Czech Republic (April, May). Furthermore, on personal meeting of the research team took place in German Salzgitter, combined with a technical excursion to the production site of hydrogen trains (Alstom).

2023

In the third year of the project duration, activities were carried out in accordance with the project proposal. Namely, the following activities:

• Techno-economic analyses of the following seven lines: R14, R21, R22, R25, R26, R27 and SP14
• Discussion on results and its interpretation
• Two workshops on project results (one in Norway and one in the Czech Republic) organisation
• Project extension proposal preparation (Request for change)
  o Cross-boarder line selection (U28), input data collection and its techno-economic
  evaluation

During the year 2023 the project team met regularly each first Tuesday of the month. Two personal working meetings of whole research teams were held in April and November related to two workshops organized for project results dissemination.

Beneficiary and project partners:

ÚJV Řež, a. s.
Výzkumný Ústav Železniční, a.s.
SINTEF AS
Česká vodíková technologická platforma
Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze

The RegioHyt project benefits from a € 0.6 mil. grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants and the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.
The project is carried out under the KAPPA funding programme for applied research, experimental development and innovation, managed by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.