HOHHOT: The first China-developed hydrogen fuel cell hybrid locomotive started a trial run on Friday on a railway line for coal transport in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The hydrogen energy locomotive project was jointly launched by the Inner Mongolia subsidiary of the State Power Investment Corporation Limited (SPIC), CRRC Datong Company Limited, and the Hydrogen Energy Company Limited of SPIC.
Compared with the traditional diesel locomotives, the new-energy locomotive is expected to cut carbon emissions by around 96,000 tonnes/annum running on the 627km coal railway linking the Baiyinhua coal mine in Inner Mongolia with the port of Jinzhou in northeast China’s Liaoning province.
Li Lingtao, deputy chief engineer with CRRC Datong Company Limited, said that the hydrogen fuel cell hybrid locomotive has a design speed of 80km/hour. It can run continuously for 24.5 hours when fully loaded with fuel and its maximum traction load on straight roads reaches 5,000 tonnes.