One of the main problems with hydrogen fuel is leaks, and I don’t mean the potential for explosions. Hydrogen molecules are significantly smaller than other fuels, so if there’s the slightest gap or crack it will escape. And hydrogen causes metals to be more brittle over time, which increases the likelihood of small cracks. While hydrogen isn’t a greenhouse gas itself, it _can_ interact with greenhouse gases and prolong their lifetimes. So leak management will be very important for switching to hydrogen to be successful.
@@archlinuxrussian It’s a 56 mile tourist line that runs four months out of the year with only three trains in total. In Western nations, electrification of tracks has cost at minimum around $2 million/mile (and doesn’t include the cost of EMU sets). Meanwhile, deployed hydrogen fuel cell trains have cost $6-7 million plus another $2-3 million for a refueling depot. If this were a major trunk line then stringing up wires absolutely should have been done, but I think in this case a hydrogen fuel cell train isn’t unreasonable.
@@bubbledoubletroubleOh, I agree, a tourist line like this may be a great use case. I just have seen some people/groups push for hydrogen trains or battery-operated trains instead of overhead electrification in scenarios of public mass transit. ☺
@@FkCCPspiesinYT Reread what they wrote. They said some advocate for hydrogen *or* battery power *rather than* overhead electrification. They did not make any claims about the environmental friendliness of batteries.
Don't forget, most diesel engines are electric too. The diesel generator powers the electric traction motors driving the engine. Short of stringing overhead wires to power electric motors, hydrogen seems to be a much better alternative than diesel.
Yes, hydrogen is very power dense and can be produced from water and electricity but unfortunately most is made from propane or natural gas as it is easier and cheaper. But my hope is that changes along with the public opinion on liquified and pressurized gas’s.
I'm driving the Diesel version here in Germany, and i must say they're nice little trains. Old and ready for scraping but very easy and good to drive. We just started with a pilot project here in North Germany with the first Battery powered train, which runs from Kiel to Lüneburg. It's the new Stadler FLIRT³ BEMU and is awesome, you have to try that one too.
I love the graphics you used to explain the hydrogen/water process. It's also good to see a non carbon burning process actually work on something as big as a train.
@@catdemon922 Well, I think you are at least partially right. There is no way for hydrogen to ever compete with pure electricity, if you look at fuel efficiency. But for classic electric trains an overhead-wire is needed, which is not a big thing, if you build it on a mainline with many trains per day. If you have some obscure route with just a few trains per week like in the video, hydrogen could actually make sense, as an alternative, because batteries aren't really better and building a wire is just not worth it, especially if you have a few small tunnels and a lot of scenery to destroy.
@@michaelfaux3137 there are already trains with batteries that are working to solve that solution, and on top of that they can operate with overhead wires therefore only using battery power when no overhead wire. (or third rail if you're insane)
Mike! I haven't seen you post a video in a while. It's good to know you are still alive and well. I hope everything is going well with your dad and mom.
Stadler Rail has also developed a hydrogen multiple unit train, which is planned to begin service on the Arrow (in San Bernardino, California) next year. Honestly, I'm surprised that Alstom seems to have beaten them to it even though I haven't heard anything about this train until now.
Its not even a particularly new train. Alstom has 2 prototypes of these Hydrogen trains which have toured various countries since 2016 from Germany, Austria, Sweden, The Netherlands, and many others before one of them got shipped to Canada. They're based on a design called the "Lint" which is commonly used in Northern Europe for small local branch lines and regional secondary routes. A few diesel versions have made their way to Canada already where they've run for years in Ottawa on the O-train Trillium line (the one thats being rebuilt right now going north to south, not the one with all the problems). Alstom did sell a few units in Germany but operators are quickly backtracking on Hydrogen. Mainly due to the expenses, since its so much more expensive to generate green hydrogen, and to run the train with this equipment compared to Battery trains.
Arrow is already running, are they adding more unit to their line? Doesn't seem like they generate a lot of passengers though (I work in San Bernardino and my daily route crosses path with Arrow pretty often)
Yes, they've been running for a while but they have planned since the start to add a hydrogen multiple unit to their fleet. Unfortunately I do think their ridership is quite low, which I would guess is due to poor land use near downtown San Bernardino.
A new trainset is being added in order to improve the service frequency of Arrow, and, at that point, the existing Diesel-fueled trains will be converted to hydrogen.
Hydrogen is a solution that looks good on paper, but the nifthy details change everything. We consume a lot of hydrogen already, and 96% of it is produced from gas reforming, which use fossil fuels. Maybe the train was powered by hydrogen produced using (hopefully clean) electricity, but then you could ask why not using that hydrogen to replace some of that 96% non clean hydrogen? It’s also very inefficient compared to battery powered, using 3 to 4 times more electricity. It might have a place, probably more for boats. For train, maybe as a range extender.
Thanks for this great content, Mike. I use the echo strips for laundry and dish soap as part of my "plastic-free" household and learned about this from you. It's so easy to reduce plastic use now. But still a challenge to go totally plastic-free. Keep up the good work.
If you look in the cab, everything is in German. Why would a French train be entirely in German? Glad you asked! LVNG, which is a german state owned operator bought 14 of these trainsets in 2018 in an effort to decarbonise their fleet. They started operating them in 2022 but never got to full fleet and gave up on them after a year, switching to battery electric because they're cheaper, simpler, and more reliable to run. This was supposed to be one of those trains but it was never delivered because the project was such a disaster. That's how a French train ended up in Quebec, Canada with a fully German cockpit. 95% of hydrogen comes from fossil fuels and green hydrogen like this costs 3 times more than regular hydrogen because the process is incredibly inneficient. Just look at how many fans are on the fuel cell part, it's because it generates so much heat. We're talking like 30% total efficiency on a good day compared to 75-85% efficiency with battery electric, plus the trains get the same range and don't need expensive fuel cell infrastructure. It needs one entire truck a day to carry enough hydrogen for the train compared to a diesel tanker truck that could deliver enough fuel for 2 weeks. It also takes an hour to refuel. Hydrogen is energy dense in terms of weight but by volume, a diesel truck can carry the equivalent energy of 14 hydrogen tankers. Add to that the issues with refueling in the winter that LVNG faced and the fact that fuel cells really struggle to get going when they're cold and it explains why the trial ended before things got cold in the fall. It's a neat train and I appreciate that people are excited about clean energy but hydrogen is being pushed almost exclusively by the fossil fuel industry because at the end of the day, that's mostly what it is, while costing twice as much as diesel.
Oil companies probably pushing for this so that operators make a big mistake having hydrogen be expensive to be replaced by diesel just leading back to them using diesel once more or have battery electric power station run on diesel
Anywhere plain electric trains can be used they should be used, avoiding the extra steps and energy wasted in conversion processes. Some places might have good applications if they are far from power generation or setting up electrified rail would be too hard or too expensive.
Great initiative. Quebec and Manitoba are the perfect places to test this as they are almost fully hydro electric base load power. I hope the train proves to be practical. Seems like a great place to employ hydrogen electric power. So much better than diesel electric. The Tru Earth is also a great idea. Sadly 2x the cost of the Tide that Amazon delivers to my door free of charge. For some reason they can move all that heavy water around cheaper, so that needs a little tune up.
Diesel trains are also electric, the diesel motor spins a generator to power the electric motors that move the train. But hydrogen is so much cleaner and quieter.
I think it is also disingenuous to say that steam trains are "powered by water". The yes, the steam runs the engines, but the power is actually coming from coal that heats the water into steam.
4:05 - Donnie? Why did you use a 1960's video on nuclear fission as an illustration for making Hydrogen gas? Electrolysis doesn't look anything like that. Just current giving enough energy to break the bonds in water and to separate the Hydrogen and Oxygen with polarity of the anode and cathode rods in the reaction vessel.
Hey btw, 50kg of Hydrogen sounds not much, but it's a lot. Hydrogen is super light. At standard atmosphere pressure and temperature, 50kg of hydrogen would occupy approximately 600000 Liters of volume. It's a lot of hydrogen.
On the other hand, it's not nearly the energy equivalent of 500 liters of diesel, this would be 150 kg of hydrogen. The fuel cell propulsion system is more efficient than diesel propulsion, but not THAT much more. He might have got the number wrong. It might be 50 kg of hydrogen on each segment of the train.
As a little fun fact we actualy have the production units of those iLint running here since 2022. It is pretty funny to see "steam" coming from the roof in the winter. Those diesel units at the end also come from here they were converted to canadian standards.
Using electricity to create hydrogen to feed into a train to produce electricity is a great idea! However I think we can make this a bit more efficient What if we fed the electricity directly into the train via some sort of wire running directly along the train line? Feel free to take this revolutionary idea, I'll give it away for free
I'm a little worried that energy companies are going to try to get us to use hydrogen so they can step in and say "hey, I see you're having a problem making enough hydrigen with that damn water turbine system,... You know I could help you out. I got a much cheaper source of hydrogen you can use!" And that's how they get yet one more customer for their hydrogen which is created by steam methane reformation.
3:00: "Sound of electrolyzis": The sound might be something about the fuel cell working. But electrolyzis is the opposite process, splitting water molecules, consuming electricity.
I love your videos but you should have a science advisor! Your video attempting to illustrate breaking water into Hydrogen and Oxygen looks more like nuclear fission where a large nucleus is split into smaller nuclei. The illustration should have one molecule of water (as you see illustrated on the seat upholstery (H-O- 0:08 H) )The electric energy from the dam simply breaks the H-O bonds. Then the two Hydrogen atoms bond together ) forming one Hydrogen molecule (H-H) while the oxygen atom bonds with an oxygen atom released by a second Water molecule to form an Oxygen molecule (O-O)
Wow that is so cool about the first hydrogen train and thanks for the graphics that explains on how the atoms make hydrogen and water to produce energy.
Hi Mike. That hydrogen-powered train, looks a bit more like a tram that Alstom also makes...😂 But a lovely looking train, and a great scenic route. The science behind how the hydrogen is used is pretty cool!. The " old time" cartoon graphics explaining the science behind how it works were fun to watch, and made the process easily to understand. Thanks. It's great to have a DownieLive video to watch on a Sunday again, too ❤
The Coradia iLint is based on the Lint 54. According to Wikipedia Lint stands for “leichter innovativer Nahverkehrstriebwagen”, translating to “light innovative local transport rail vehicle”; that may be where the tram feeling comes in!
Ein wie immer hervorragend gelungenes Video! Ich hoffe, dass Wasserstoffzüge bald viel mehr verbreitung finden. Züge der selben Typenfamilie (Alstom Coradia LINT) fahren bei mir um die Ecke auch, aber alle leider als Diesel. Hier wurde aber auch schon ein Wasserstoffzug getestet. Das war schon echt fastzinierend! Der Dieselzug am Ende vom Video sieht exakt aus, wie die deutsche Klasse 628.2, alles was man sieht stimmt überein! Kann das sein, dass die als Gebrauchtfahrzeuge importiert wurden?
According to this, they are Class 628.1: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB_Class_628#Class_628.1 Google translation: "Im Jahr 2012 wurden zwei Einheiten - 628 102 und 103 - an die Sodema Inc. Société de gestion des équipements publics de Charlevoix in Kanada verkauft, wo sie in der Region Charlevoix als Charlevoix-Touristenzug verkehren." Original text: "In 2012 two units - 628 102 and 103 - were sold to the Sodema Inc. Société de gestion des équipements publics de Charlevoix[3] in Canada where they operate in the Charlevoix region as the Charlevoix tourist train."
2:57 No, it is not "the sound of electrolysis" since "electrolysis" does not convert hydrogen in electricity. Electrolysis produce hydrogen and oxygen with electricity (in a factory).
Battery/Hydrogen EMUs will be a game changer. Because they don't require the immense centenary infrastructure, and don't require the trains to be large consists with an engine to be efficient. So corridors with modest demand will benefit immensely. Now I have ridden DMUs but the engine vibrations on each and every unit make for an uncomfortable experience, somehow in a more bizarre strange way than a car or bus.
actually, the effects of hydrogen fuel cell fusion of hydrogen and oxygen into water are not known if it underwent mass adoption. There would be a lot of water produced by personal and transit vehicles the world over. What would all that extra water do to the hydrological system of the planet? Also each hydrogen engine is essentially a mini-nuke in terms of explosivity if something went wrong. I'm not opposed to it but the strictest maintenance and safety/security measures would have to be in place to ensure issues didn't arise and bad actors couldn't turn them into weapons.
As opposed to EV which can spontaneously combust even when turned off and not charging. Ferry boats refuse to take on EVs, only a matter of time before underground parkings also refuse them.
The emission of water (vapor) is no new phenomenon, since the combustion of hydrocarbons (oil, natural gas) produces water vapor as well. Even a similar amount of it per mileage. And regarding "mini-nuke": Some people might confuse the combustion of hydrogen with the nuclear fusion of deuterium and tritium (hydrogen isotopes) in a thermonuclear weapon. These are completely different topics! Hydrogen is a highly flammable gas and a mixture with oxygen (air) is explosive. Basically not different to e.g. natural gas. Partially more dangerous, because of its high rate of combustion (more "bang" per kWh), partially less dangerous because it quickly vanishes up to the air in the case of a leakage and doesn't form big clouds together with air, like natural gas does. Of course, you need high safety standards for using hydrogen as a fuel and yes, the risks are basically higher than with e.g. diesel fuel. But please don't mention "nukes" or the "H-bomb" in this context! Because many people might get this wrong!
YAY! I knew you didn't fall off the face of the earth! Turns out, you fell off the hydro-waterfall! LOL We always miss you, and as a mom, I'm going to worry! Enjoyed the video, like always!
Hi Mike, I wish I had paid attention in my Science and Chemistry classes back in school in the 1970s and 80s LOL. Wonderful vid and I learned something. TY sir. 👍👍
Just today while crossing the tracks, I was thinking what if we had a fuel efficient train with lesser cars here in Vancouver Island, turning the tracks useful again connecting north and south of the island. Or an electric train like Europe. This seems like a perfect fit
Idk if I’ve ever commented on a RUclips video 😅🤣 hope this actually reaches Mike! I gotta say… your content is some of our families’ favorite! We have minimal screen time during the week but when we do decide to “watch TV” as a family, we’ve enjoyed pretty much all of your videos by casting them on the TV in our front room!! Thank you for sharing your passion and talents with us!!
I was in Baie st-Paul last June when the Hydro Train first rode by ... very quietly. Impressive! And so was your vidéo (as well as yiu French prononciation). Merci!
Thanks for a very enjoyable video ! It came up on my RUclips feed so I gave it a shot because I was just surfing aimlessly anyway. I have to say that I'm quite impressed with your laid back style and the quality of your work all of which means that you have me as a subscriber and I am looking forward to enjoying more of your work !
@user-vo9wd6tx6c it's been around for roughly 30 years and making hydrogen and transporting it safely is still very expensive. i'm glad the study is being done because info on the practical usage of hydrogen is limited because of the economics. there may well be a cheaper and more practicable alternative.
The hydrogen train returned almost immediately with guests, but I wanted to stay for a few hours and see the town, so the other train that was running at that time is the diesel train.
Merci de nouveau. I half expected you to say Baie-Saint-Paul with your Québec/B.C. accent. Wikipedia provides this delicious tidbit about the city: " It is also where Cirque du Soleil originated back in the early 1980s and the location of the first show using the name Cirque du Soleil during "La Fete Foraine de Baie-Saint-Paul" in 1984." How about that! Happy Thanksgiving!
Powered by electricity that splits water into hydrogen that gets converted back to electricity inside fuel cells to power the electric motors that move the train
My Bro-in-law leased a hydrogen powered Toyota & got a deal, i.e. for two years the fuel was 'paid for' by Toyota. At $25.00 per gallon equivalent, a good deal. So, right now, Diesel Fuel is around $5.00/gallon. But, for a trains use the hydrogen might be a better gig?
in cities/burbs maybe. When you're 100+km from the nearest town you end up with hard to support infrastructure. Also loses over long cables means you'd have to run at high voltages which can be dangerous if they make contact with the ground/people/trains/etc.
@@tomstdenisRussia, China, India, South Africa, and Kazakhstan all have large swathes of their National networks Electrified at 25,000 volts which is already used high speed trains, and on Amtrak's northeast corridor
These types of trains would be great for areas far outside of urban areas. Long-distance Amtrak trains for example could use these while inter-city trains use catenary.
These trains (Coradia Lint) are made for branch lines without overhead wiring, the iLint (hydrogen) as well as the normal diesel version. There are a lot of them in Germany, mostly diesel-powered.
OK Downie, I have a hat I wish I could find again. I used to own what I call a Corduroy peak less ball cap that had a puffy 1 inch diameter corduroy cushion all around the edge. It could be rolled down one fold to give more ear cover in cold weather. I think it was some type of winter mechanics hat. I lost it years ago and want another one.
Neat little video, the train is actually 7 years old already. This and its sister prototype have already toured Europe across various countries like Germany, Sweden, Austria, and the Netherlands before one of them took a trip to Canada. Some sister trains of the same design, just diesel powered actually do run in Canada already over in Ottawa on the O-train. As for hydrogen well... in Europe agencies and operators are quickly ditching hydrogen. The creation of hydrogen through electrolysis is very energy consuming, almost half of the energy poured in gets lost in the procces from generation to use. This is also combined with the train needing more sensitive parts to handle the hydrogen. All the while battery trains have proven themselves on short routes with lower costs and less complexity. And most routes that are too long to be handled by a Battery train in Europe already either have electric wires hung up already or are getting them within a few years. And for the few exceptions, companies are likely gonna use lightly polluting alternatives like HVO in conventional combustion engines until either battery trains come on the table with enough range or political will arrives for electrification. Also that thumbnail you made is extremely cursed.
I though the track in the US and Canada are diffrent from German tracks, but the Train is directly from Germany you see were they just put some sings at the Bathromm and on the head end still stands "Führerraum". did they change the wheels or what?
Hi Mike, always enjoy your videos and the destinations. The fact that you advocate for the environment…well that’s an added bonus. Thanks and keep up the great adventures. Cheers.
Theres already another hydrogen powered train in NA and its undergoing testing right now. A stadler FLIRT for ARROW in Southern California is at the TTC in Colorado. Hydrogen is a terrible option for rail you need some specific circumstances to justify it like few trains and long runs.
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I can see hydrogen making sense in rural countries with long, sparsely served routes. In most of Europe, battery makes a lot more sense.
I was watching this with my cat Izzie sitting on my lap and she was SUPER interested in the true earth laundry strips. She moved over closer to my phone stuck her face right up to the screen and then pawed at the screen when you held up the package. I guess she thinks I need to switch- I haven’t even seen her that interested in those bird feeder videos designed for cats….
Hello, sir! I have a question for this video. when I see 3:43, It doesn't look it has a 'close' button at bathroom. so, How do I close that door? does it close automatically after few seconds?
Oh Mike! You used nuclear fusion animations to explain electrolysis of water! Happy to be your science editor in the future. This train is awesome. Thanks for sharing about it.
In fairness, nuclear fusion might be used to generate the electricity to "crack" the water molecules to get the hydrogen to run the train and make more water...in about 30 years. (Fusion power has been 30 years away for about the last 30 years. :) )
Yes, we are aware it wasn’t the correct animations, but it’s difficult to find specific molecule separation animations on copyright-free stock footage sites. We figured it was close enough for the average person to understand.
Mike you got to come back to the uk . Though dont do the trains. Unless you want love of trains gone for ever. Come do a tour by boat of uk cost line. Come sea a classic British sea side
Not sure when you filmed this... Currently, the world hydrogen production is mostly offline and most hydrogen cars, trucks and buses are off the road because they can not get fueled... 12 to 16-hour waiting was not common when this last happened last time and when it comes to fueling suppliers limited supplies you are allowed to buy. The current price is topping out at 38 USD KG at the pump in CA, which is over 20 times more than you pay for an oil-based fuel. If they use the power and water (taken from where the train is located) to drive the train they still looking at a fuel cost 4 to 6 times that of oil fuel-based fuel. Add to that if they use a fuel cell every 3 to 5 years that has to be replaced at a cost of 10,000s USD because it is mostly made out of rare earth materials and the fuel cell/tank needs to either be replaced or recertified along with the fuel lines otherwise you losing 3% on a normal day to boil off to up to 20%. Other than that and customers looking at a 300% to 800% increase in ticket prices (depending on transport use) then every things fine.
What are the cost benefits of using hydrogen? What loads can it pull? How fast can they go? What is the downside of it, if any. I want to take that train. Thanks for doing it for me.
One of the main problems with hydrogen fuel is leaks, and I don’t mean the potential for explosions. Hydrogen molecules are significantly smaller than other fuels, so if there’s the slightest gap or crack it will escape. And hydrogen causes metals to be more brittle over time, which increases the likelihood of small cracks. While hydrogen isn’t a greenhouse gas itself, it _can_ interact with greenhouse gases and prolong their lifetimes. So leak management will be very important for switching to hydrogen to be successful.
Also I'd hope that it'd be used in places it makes sense, rather than as an excuse not to use catenary wires where those would be perfectly usable ☺
@@archlinuxrussian It’s a 56 mile tourist line that runs four months out of the year with only three trains in total. In Western nations, electrification of tracks has cost at minimum around $2 million/mile (and doesn’t include the cost of EMU sets). Meanwhile, deployed hydrogen fuel cell trains have cost $6-7 million plus another $2-3 million for a refueling depot. If this were a major trunk line then stringing up wires absolutely should have been done, but I think in this case a hydrogen fuel cell train isn’t unreasonable.
@@bubbledoubletroubleOh, I agree, a tourist line like this may be a great use case. I just have seen some people/groups push for hydrogen trains or battery-operated trains instead of overhead electrification in scenarios of public mass transit. ☺
@@archlinuxrussianbatteries are environmentally friendly?
@@FkCCPspiesinYT Reread what they wrote. They said some advocate for hydrogen *or* battery power *rather than* overhead electrification. They did not make any claims about the environmental friendliness of batteries.
Don't forget, most diesel engines are electric too. The diesel generator powers the electric traction motors driving the engine. Short of stringing overhead wires to power electric motors, hydrogen seems to be a much better alternative than diesel.
Yes, hydrogen is very power dense and can be produced from water and electricity but unfortunately most is made from propane or natural gas as it is easier and cheaper.
But my hope is that changes along with the public opinion on liquified and pressurized gas’s.
The best of the polish H0 ² trains wos made long before this one :D first in America Second at the world
To be fair on most DMU it is more likely to be diesel mechanical or hydraulics than diesel electric
No it's been 20 plus years of hydrogen hope and nothing. It's not cost effective, not very efficient to build maintain. Just use electric
so just do that wire thing, like every other country does on even some of the most extreme of lines in the world :p
I'm driving the Diesel version here in Germany, and i must say they're nice little trains. Old and ready for scraping but very easy and good to drive. We just started with a pilot project here in North Germany with the first Battery powered train, which runs from Kiel to Lüneburg.
It's the new Stadler FLIRT³ BEMU and is awesome, you have to try that one too.
So great to see you back doing train videos, Mike!
I love the graphics you used to explain the hydrogen/water process. It's also good to see a non carbon burning process actually work on something as big as a train.
Both CN and CP already have test trains running that are powered by hydrogen.
Electric trains have existed for over a century, this is a dumb way to power trains
@@catdemon922 Well, I think you are at least partially right. There is no way for hydrogen to ever compete with pure electricity, if you look at fuel efficiency. But for classic electric trains an overhead-wire is needed, which is not a big thing, if you build it on a mainline with many trains per day. If you have some obscure route with just a few trains per week like in the video, hydrogen could actually make sense, as an alternative, because batteries aren't really better and building a wire is just not worth it, especially if you have a few small tunnels and a lot of scenery to destroy.
@@michaelfaux3137 there are already trains with batteries that are working to solve that solution, and on top of that they can operate with overhead wires therefore only using battery power when no overhead wire. (or third rail if you're insane)
@@catdemon922aren’t most electricity production points in the US powered by fossils fuels anyways?
Ya know, something great about Downie is that he only does sponsorships with companies he knows are environmentally-friendly.
It's one of the only sponsor links I've actually bought from. It's actually a pretty good product line
Whatever
Mike! I haven't seen you post a video in a while. It's good to know you are still alive and well. I hope everything is going well with your dad and mom.
Stadler Rail has also developed a hydrogen multiple unit train, which is planned to begin service on the Arrow (in San Bernardino, California) next year. Honestly, I'm surprised that Alstom seems to have beaten them to it even though I haven't heard anything about this train until now.
It went through a bunch of testing in Europe on passenger services in the past I think 5 years, but didn't have much success.
Its not even a particularly new train. Alstom has 2 prototypes of these Hydrogen trains which have toured various countries since 2016 from Germany, Austria, Sweden, The Netherlands, and many others before one of them got shipped to Canada. They're based on a design called the "Lint" which is commonly used in Northern Europe for small local branch lines and regional secondary routes. A few diesel versions have made their way to Canada already where they've run for years in Ottawa on the O-train Trillium line (the one thats being rebuilt right now going north to south, not the one with all the problems).
Alstom did sell a few units in Germany but operators are quickly backtracking on Hydrogen. Mainly due to the expenses, since its so much more expensive to generate green hydrogen, and to run the train with this equipment compared to Battery trains.
Arrow is already running, are they adding more unit to their line? Doesn't seem like they generate a lot of passengers though (I work in San Bernardino and my daily route crosses path with Arrow pretty often)
Yes, they've been running for a while but they have planned since the start to add a hydrogen multiple unit to their fleet. Unfortunately I do think their ridership is quite low, which I would guess is due to poor land use near downtown San Bernardino.
A new trainset is being added in order to improve the service frequency of Arrow, and, at that point, the existing Diesel-fueled trains will be converted to hydrogen.
Hydrogen is a solution that looks good on paper, but the nifthy details change everything. We consume a lot of hydrogen already, and 96% of it is produced from gas reforming, which use fossil fuels. Maybe the train was powered by hydrogen produced using (hopefully clean) electricity, but then you could ask why not using that hydrogen to replace some of that 96% non clean hydrogen?
It’s also very inefficient compared to battery powered, using 3 to 4 times more electricity.
It might have a place, probably more for boats. For train, maybe as a range extender.
You should have no problems with relationships...females or males
Your just so pleasant to listen to, great personality
Thanks for this great content, Mike. I use the echo strips for laundry and dish soap as part of my "plastic-free" household and learned about this from you. It's so easy to reduce plastic use now. But still a challenge to go totally plastic-free. Keep up the good work.
Hydrogen Train should’ve been a thing in the 20th Century instead of Hydrogen Bomb.
Those who do not learn from history, are destined to repeat it.
Both have there place.
😂 and yet dropping a hydrogen bomb gave you freedom to speak your mind.... ironic isn't it?
@@stephenbarabas6286 Freedom already existed
Don’t bring your little politics on this nice video’s comment section
If you look in the cab, everything is in German. Why would a French train be entirely in German? Glad you asked! LVNG, which is a german state owned operator bought 14 of these trainsets in 2018 in an effort to decarbonise their fleet. They started operating them in 2022 but never got to full fleet and gave up on them after a year, switching to battery electric because they're cheaper, simpler, and more reliable to run. This was supposed to be one of those trains but it was never delivered because the project was such a disaster. That's how a French train ended up in Quebec, Canada with a fully German cockpit.
95% of hydrogen comes from fossil fuels and green hydrogen like this costs 3 times more than regular hydrogen because the process is incredibly inneficient. Just look at how many fans are on the fuel cell part, it's because it generates so much heat. We're talking like 30% total efficiency on a good day compared to 75-85% efficiency with battery electric, plus the trains get the same range and don't need expensive fuel cell infrastructure.
It needs one entire truck a day to carry enough hydrogen for the train compared to a diesel tanker truck that could deliver enough fuel for 2 weeks. It also takes an hour to refuel. Hydrogen is energy dense in terms of weight but by volume, a diesel truck can carry the equivalent energy of 14 hydrogen tankers.
Add to that the issues with refueling in the winter that LVNG faced and the fact that fuel cells really struggle to get going when they're cold and it explains why the trial ended before things got cold in the fall.
It's a neat train and I appreciate that people are excited about clean energy but hydrogen is being pushed almost exclusively by the fossil fuel industry because at the end of the day, that's mostly what it is, while costing twice as much as diesel.
Oil companies probably pushing for this so that operators make a big mistake having hydrogen be expensive to be replaced by diesel just leading back to them using diesel once more or have battery electric power station run on diesel
The train was built for service in Germany and was just on loan to Quebec for the summer.
Mike, thanks for sharing this adventure and the great explanation. I don’t know where you’re going next but I’m looking forward to going along.
Anywhere plain electric trains can be used they should be used, avoiding the extra steps and energy wasted in conversion processes. Some places might have good applications if they are far from power generation or setting up electrified rail would be too hard or too expensive.
I agree, and I should have explained a little bit more about why/where this technology should be applied. Maybe in another video.
A super cool train. My favourite colour of blue 🔵. Thanks Mike for bringing us along.👍😊🇮🇪🇨🇦
That is kind of serene and unique wow ! I never saw these hydrogen train in Canada
캐나다에서는 본 적이 없는 고요하고 독특한 모습이에요
Great initiative. Quebec and Manitoba are the perfect places to test this as they are almost fully hydro electric base load power.
I hope the train proves to be practical. Seems like a great place to employ hydrogen electric power. So much better than diesel electric.
The Tru Earth is also a great idea. Sadly 2x the cost of the Tide that Amazon delivers to my door free of charge. For some reason they can move all that heavy water around cheaper, so that needs a little tune up.
Diesel trains are also electric, the diesel motor spins a generator to power the electric motors that move the train. But hydrogen is so much cleaner and quieter.
Battery and hydrogen trains are stupid, electrification is the cheapest, best, and greenest long term power source of all.
I think it is also disingenuous to say that steam trains are "powered by water". The yes, the steam runs the engines, but the power is actually coming from coal that heats the water into steam.
@@ncard00 unfortunately some rail lines can’t quite get the power to the tracks or can’t invest in catenary or 3rd rail power.
4:05 - Donnie? Why did you use a 1960's video on nuclear fission as an illustration for making Hydrogen gas? Electrolysis doesn't look anything like that. Just current giving enough energy to break the bonds in water and to separate the Hydrogen and Oxygen with polarity of the anode and cathode rods in the reaction vessel.
Hey btw, 50kg of Hydrogen sounds not much, but it's a lot. Hydrogen is super light. At standard atmosphere pressure and temperature, 50kg of hydrogen would occupy approximately 600000 Liters of volume. It's a lot of hydrogen.
On the other hand, it's not nearly the energy equivalent of 500 liters of diesel, this would be 150 kg of hydrogen.
The fuel cell propulsion system is more efficient than diesel propulsion, but not THAT much more.
He might have got the number wrong. It might be 50 kg of hydrogen on each segment of the train.
Love the thumbnail! Seeing the SoCal Metrolink livery on the Coradia iLint was interesting but I know they're getting FLIRT H2s.
FLIRT H2s are only for Arrow service, less demand commuter train service
As a little fun fact we actualy have the production units of those iLint running here since 2022. It is pretty funny to see "steam" coming from the roof in the winter. Those diesel units at the end also come from here they were converted to canadian standards.
That was a very nice video on the Hydrogen Train in Quebec! Great video Mike!
I would love to try that train… the scenery in this video is beautiful!
Using electricity to create hydrogen to feed into a train to produce electricity is a great idea!
However I think we can make this a bit more efficient
What if we fed the electricity directly into the train via some sort of wire running directly along the train line?
Feel free to take this revolutionary idea, I'll give it away for free
What a beautiful initiative with your hat sales. As a counselor you have all my appreciation. ❤
Michael your train videos makes my day better
I'm a little worried that energy companies are going to try to get us to use hydrogen so they can step in and say "hey, I see you're having a problem making enough hydrigen with that damn water turbine system,... You know I could help you out. I got a much cheaper source of hydrogen you can use!"
And that's how they get yet one more customer for their hydrogen which is created by steam methane reformation.
3:00: "Sound of electrolyzis": The sound might be something about the fuel cell working.
But electrolyzis is the opposite process, splitting water molecules, consuming electricity.
I love your videos but you should have a science advisor! Your video attempting to illustrate breaking water into Hydrogen and Oxygen looks more like nuclear fission where a large nucleus is split into smaller nuclei. The illustration should have one molecule of water (as you see illustrated on the seat upholstery (H-O- 0:08 H) )The electric energy from the dam simply breaks the H-O bonds. Then the two Hydrogen atoms bond together ) forming one Hydrogen molecule (H-H) while the oxygen atom bonds with an oxygen atom released by a second Water molecule to form an Oxygen molecule (O-O)
It’s just difficult to find specific science clips on copyright free footage sites.
Wow that is so cool about the first hydrogen train and thanks for the graphics that explains on how the atoms make hydrogen and water to produce energy.
Hi Mike.
That hydrogen-powered train, looks a bit more like a tram that Alstom also makes...😂
But a lovely looking train, and a great scenic route.
The science behind how the hydrogen is used is pretty cool!.
The " old time" cartoon graphics explaining the science behind how it works were fun to watch, and made the process easily to understand. Thanks.
It's great to have a DownieLive video to watch on a Sunday again, too ❤
The Coradia iLint is based on the Lint 54. According to Wikipedia Lint stands for “leichter innovativer Nahverkehrstriebwagen”, translating to “light innovative local transport rail vehicle”; that may be where the tram feeling comes in!
I love how the text in the front capin is still in german because its produced there :)
Hello from Quebec City! I enjoyed my ride on the train, and BSP is a hidden gem!
Ein wie immer hervorragend gelungenes Video! Ich hoffe, dass Wasserstoffzüge bald viel mehr verbreitung finden. Züge der selben Typenfamilie (Alstom Coradia LINT) fahren bei mir um die Ecke auch, aber alle leider als Diesel. Hier wurde aber auch schon ein Wasserstoffzug getestet. Das war schon echt fastzinierend! Der Dieselzug am Ende vom Video sieht exakt aus, wie die deutsche Klasse 628.2, alles was man sieht stimmt überein! Kann das sein, dass die als Gebrauchtfahrzeuge importiert wurden?
According to this, they are Class 628.1:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB_Class_628#Class_628.1
Google translation: "Im Jahr 2012 wurden zwei Einheiten - 628 102 und 103 - an die Sodema Inc. Société de gestion des équipements publics de Charlevoix in Kanada verkauft, wo sie in der Region Charlevoix als Charlevoix-Touristenzug verkehren."
Original text: "In 2012 two units - 628 102 and 103 - were sold to the Sodema Inc. Société de gestion des équipements publics de Charlevoix[3] in Canada where they operate in the Charlevoix region as the Charlevoix tourist train."
Bienvenu au Québec Downie
It's always nice to see you back in la belle province
8:14 YES TO ICE-CREAM!
2:57 No, it is not "the sound of electrolysis" since "electrolysis" does not convert hydrogen in electricity. Electrolysis produce hydrogen and oxygen with electricity (in a factory).
Been a minute since your last video. Glad to see you back on the rails.
Battery/Hydrogen EMUs will be a game changer. Because they don't require the immense centenary infrastructure, and don't require the trains to be large consists with an engine to be efficient.
So corridors with modest demand will benefit immensely.
Now I have ridden DMUs but the engine vibrations on each and every unit make for an uncomfortable experience, somehow in a more bizarre strange way than a car or bus.
J@dore ton francais " Le train de Charlevoix" first time I heard it correctly from a person that not used to speak french. Bravo!
actually, the effects of hydrogen fuel cell fusion of hydrogen and oxygen into water are not known if it underwent mass adoption. There would be a lot of water produced by personal and transit vehicles the world over. What would all that extra water do to the hydrological system of the planet? Also each hydrogen engine is essentially a mini-nuke in terms of explosivity if something went wrong. I'm not opposed to it but the strictest maintenance and safety/security measures would have to be in place to ensure issues didn't arise and bad actors couldn't turn them into weapons.
As opposed to EV which can spontaneously combust even when turned off and not charging. Ferry boats refuse to take on EVs, only a matter of time before underground parkings also refuse them.
The emission of water (vapor) is no new phenomenon, since the combustion of hydrocarbons (oil, natural gas) produces water vapor as well. Even a similar amount of it per mileage. And regarding "mini-nuke": Some people might confuse the combustion of hydrogen with the nuclear fusion of deuterium and tritium (hydrogen isotopes) in a thermonuclear weapon. These are completely different topics! Hydrogen is a highly flammable gas and a mixture with oxygen (air) is explosive. Basically not different to e.g. natural gas. Partially more dangerous, because of its high rate of combustion (more "bang" per kWh), partially less dangerous because it quickly vanishes up to the air in the case of a leakage and doesn't form big clouds together with air, like natural gas does.
Of course, you need high safety standards for using hydrogen as a fuel and yes, the risks are basically higher than with e.g. diesel fuel.
But please don't mention "nukes" or the "H-bomb" in this context! Because many people might get this wrong!
Welcome to a special edition of Travels by Train!
Here in Germany In Frankfurt we already have these Hydrogen trains from alstrom operating for a couple of years.
Honestly, great photoshopping of a Metrolink Hyundai Rotem cab car to have a Cordia iLint cab
Clickbait, though apparently Metra commuter carriages will be a Coradia variant hopefully it could look like thay
YAY! I knew you didn't fall off the face of the earth! Turns out, you fell off the hydro-waterfall! LOL We always miss you, and as a mom, I'm going to worry! Enjoyed the video, like always!
What a pleasant surprise to see this evening!
Hi Mike, I wish I had paid attention in my Science and Chemistry classes back in school in the 1970s and 80s LOL. Wonderful vid and I learned something. TY sir. 👍👍
great to see another Downie train adventure!
Welcome back Mike I missed your video’s another great video take care Happy Thanksgiving
Wow! I am impressed with this train. Hopefully, the city of Quebec can figure something out for its tram initiative. Thank you for sharing.
Missed you doing videos like this & loved it! Very interesting~thank you ❤
I appreciate the effort you put into pronouncing French words/names properly!
You do know he is canadian.
Came across your videos out of nowhere!!! So fun to watch each video. Keep up the good work
Just today while crossing the tracks, I was thinking what if we had a fuel efficient train with lesser cars here in Vancouver Island, turning the tracks useful again connecting north and south of the island. Or an electric train like Europe. This seems like a perfect fit
Absolutely beautiful scenery! It's great that this technology is making it's way to other applications.
Idk if I’ve ever commented on a RUclips video 😅🤣 hope this actually reaches Mike! I gotta say… your content is some of our families’ favorite! We have minimal screen time during the week but when we do decide to “watch TV” as a family, we’ve enjoyed pretty much all of your videos by casting them on the TV in our front room!! Thank you for sharing your passion and talents with us!!
I appreciate that!
Great job on the video Mike! Thanks for making it.
I was in Baie st-Paul last June when the Hydro Train first rode by ... very quietly. Impressive!
And so was your vidéo (as well as yiu French prononciation). Merci!
C’est vrai. Mike est bilange .
Bilangue……
Bilingue...😉
Great informative trip! Maybe you need to revisit the town as it looks like it has a lot to offer. Thank you for the invite to ride along!
Thanks for a very enjoyable video ! It came up on my RUclips feed so I gave it a shot because I was just surfing aimlessly anyway. I have to say that I'm quite impressed with your laid back style and the quality of your work all of which means that you have me as a subscriber and I am looking forward to enjoying more of your work !
Welcome aboard!
it would be interesting to *know* why they used a diesel for the return journey. i suspect fuel supply is the culprit but i could be wrong.
@user-vo9wd6tx6c it's been around for roughly 30 years and making hydrogen and transporting it safely is still very expensive. i'm glad the study is being done because info on the practical usage of hydrogen is limited because of the economics. there may well be a cheaper and more practicable alternative.
The hydrogen train returned almost immediately with guests, but I wanted to stay for a few hours and see the town, so the other train that was running at that time is the diesel train.
Range of this train (Coradia ILINT) with full hydrogen tanks is about 1000 km (600 miles).
Merci de nouveau. I half expected you to say Baie-Saint-Paul with your Québec/B.C. accent. Wikipedia provides this delicious tidbit about the city: " It is also where Cirque du Soleil originated back in the early 1980s and the location of the first show using the name Cirque du Soleil during "La Fete Foraine de Baie-Saint-Paul" in 1984." How about that!
Happy Thanksgiving!
7:07 there’s a windsock for an airport but I can’t find it on Google Earth? When searching through the town.
Powered by electricity that splits water into hydrogen that gets converted back to electricity inside fuel cells to power the electric motors that move the train
Yes, and even in the best scenario, since more than 97% of hydrogen is produced from "fossil energies" (with huge CO2 emission).
My Bro-in-law leased a hydrogen powered Toyota & got a deal, i.e. for two years the fuel was 'paid for' by Toyota. At $25.00 per gallon equivalent, a good deal. So, right now, Diesel Fuel is around $5.00/gallon. But, for a trains use the hydrogen might be a better gig?
1:46 Nice touch.
Good on you for bringing it to our attention. I'm afraid that it would otherwise have simply washed over me...
I can’t help but notice you combined the front of this train with the Metrolink Hyundai Rotem cars. Great video nonetheless!!
In almost all cases just putting up the wires to run electric trains makes way more sense than all the hydrogen infrastructure.
in cities/burbs maybe. When you're 100+km from the nearest town you end up with hard to support infrastructure. Also loses over long cables means you'd have to run at high voltages which can be dangerous if they make contact with the ground/people/trains/etc.
@@tomstdenisRussia, China, India, South Africa, and Kazakhstan all have large swathes of their National networks Electrified at 25,000 volts which is already used high speed trains, and on Amtrak's northeast corridor
These types of trains would be great for areas far outside of urban areas. Long-distance Amtrak trains for example could use these while inter-city trains use catenary.
These trains (Coradia Lint) are made for branch lines without overhead wiring, the iLint (hydrogen) as well as the normal diesel version.
There are a lot of them in Germany, mostly diesel-powered.
OK Downie, I have a hat I wish I could find again. I used to own what I call a Corduroy peak less ball cap that had a puffy 1 inch diameter corduroy cushion all around the edge. It could be rolled down one fold to give more ear cover in cold weather. I think it was some type of winter mechanics hat. I lost it years ago and want another one.
Neat little video, the train is actually 7 years old already. This and its sister prototype have already toured Europe across various countries like Germany, Sweden, Austria, and the Netherlands before one of them took a trip to Canada. Some sister trains of the same design, just diesel powered actually do run in Canada already over in Ottawa on the O-train.
As for hydrogen well... in Europe agencies and operators are quickly ditching hydrogen. The creation of hydrogen through electrolysis is very energy consuming, almost half of the energy poured in gets lost in the procces from generation to use. This is also combined with the train needing more sensitive parts to handle the hydrogen. All the while battery trains have proven themselves on short routes with lower costs and less complexity. And most routes that are too long to be handled by a Battery train in Europe already either have electric wires hung up already or are getting them within a few years. And for the few exceptions, companies are likely gonna use lightly polluting alternatives like HVO in conventional combustion engines until either battery trains come on the table with enough range or political will arrives for electrification.
Also that thumbnail you made is extremely cursed.
Welcome back!
Of course it would be a french built train lol. We french LOVE our trains man. It's kinda crazy.
You are so wholesome and I love your videos!
That train is amazing peace of techbology. And if you love train trawels this big windows are insane..
Great scenery. Just got back from 2 weeks in Canada. Brilliant holiday. Loved it.
When you come down to Florida to ride Brightline’s high speed rail, let me know. I’ll come ride with you. Love your videos.
San Bernardino in California will be getting a hydrogen fuel cell train from Stadler, it will run in the arow line
I though the track in the US and Canada are diffrent from German tracks, but the Train is directly from Germany you see were they just put some sings at the Bathromm and on the head end still stands "Führerraum". did they change the wheels or what?
Very nice scenery on this journey, great video
Hi Mike, always enjoy your videos and the destinations. The fact that you advocate for the environment…well that’s an added bonus. Thanks and keep up the great adventures. Cheers.
4:30 - Now that's complicated!
Theres already another hydrogen powered train in NA and its undergoing testing right now. A stadler FLIRT for ARROW in Southern California is at the TTC in Colorado.
Hydrogen is a terrible option for rail you need some specific circumstances to justify it like few trains and long runs.
I can see hydrogen making sense in rural countries with long, sparsely served routes. In most of Europe, battery makes a lot more sense.
4:26 Great infographics 🔥
I hope this is successful as I'd love to see it spread to more parts of Canada. Our train in Nova Scotia is older than my parents lol
Always impatiently waiting for new videos. Keep being awesome
More to come!
@DownieLive always gratefully impatient 😀
I was watching this with my cat Izzie sitting on my lap and she was SUPER interested in the true earth laundry strips. She moved over closer to my phone stuck her face right up to the screen and then pawed at the screen when you held up the package. I guess she thinks I need to switch- I haven’t even seen her that interested in those bird feeder videos designed for cats….
Now that is something ill have to add to my bucket list. Great Vid Downie!
3:18 the universal ‘S’ that somehow spanned continents and cultures and we all drew making an appearance on the rocks at the tunnel entrance😅
Hello, sir! I have a question for this video. when I see 3:43, It doesn't look it has a 'close' button at bathroom. so, How do I close that door? does it close automatically after few seconds?
Oh Mike! You used nuclear fusion animations to explain electrolysis of water! Happy to be your science editor in the future.
This train is awesome. Thanks for sharing about it.
In fairness, nuclear fusion might be used to generate the electricity to "crack" the water molecules to get the hydrogen to run the train and make more water...in about 30 years. (Fusion power has been 30 years away for about the last 30 years. :) )
Yes, we are aware it wasn’t the correct animations, but it’s difficult to find specific molecule separation animations on copyright-free stock footage sites. We figured it was close enough for the average person to understand.
@@DownieLive no worries. It looked cool enough and enhanced your already-great content.
Unique and fabulous as usual!!😊
Super Clever Technology , Great to see it in trains
Mike you got to come back to the uk . Though dont do the trains. Unless you want love of trains gone for ever. Come do a tour by boat of uk cost line. Come sea a classic British sea side
I have been to Baie St Paul. Cirque du Soleil originated from there. Many nice restaurants in town.
Not sure when you filmed this...
Currently, the world hydrogen production is mostly offline and most hydrogen cars, trucks and buses are off the road because they can not get fueled...
12 to 16-hour waiting was not common when this last happened last time and when it comes to fueling suppliers limited supplies you are allowed to buy.
The current price is topping out at 38 USD KG at the pump in CA, which is over 20 times more than you pay for an oil-based fuel.
If they use the power and water (taken from where the train is located) to drive the train they still looking at a fuel cost 4 to 6 times that of oil fuel-based fuel.
Add to that if they use a fuel cell every 3 to 5 years that has to be replaced at a cost of 10,000s USD because it is mostly made out of rare earth materials and the fuel cell/tank needs to either be replaced or recertified along with the fuel lines otherwise you losing 3% on a normal day to boil off to up to 20%.
Other than that and customers looking at a 300% to 800% increase in ticket prices (depending on transport use) then every things fine.
Another really interesting video. I would love to see more trains like this. Hello all of the way from Scotland.
PS: Heilan' Coo!!!!
What are the cost benefits of using hydrogen? What loads can it pull? How fast can they go? What is the downside of it, if any. I want to take that train. Thanks for doing it for me.