Hydrogen for Rail in the

US: Prospects and

Context

Hydrail Conference

June 27-28, 2017

Graz, Austria

Raphael Isaac, Dr. Andreas Hoffrichter (MSU), and Athanasios Iraklis (WMG)

Courtesy Chasingsteel.com

Rail in the USA vs. Europe

Europe:

391 billion passenger-km (7.6% of total PKM in Europe) were transported by rail in

2013. 29% of these accounted for by high speed rail, a 7-fold increase since 1990.

Electrified network doubled in length between 1975 and 2013 -->

221,000 km or 61% of the network, in 2013

11.9% of freight TKM from rail

US:

0.1% of total PKM in US accounted for by rail!! (And only ~ 10% increase in PKM from

1990.)

32.6% of freight TKM from rail

Total length of tracks has decreased since 1990, with a slight increase since 2010

Source: UIC (2015)

(Source: UIC, 2015)

Europe

Source: UIC, 2015

United States

2-3% of track over which passenger rail

operates in the United States is electrified*;

However, passenger rail operational energy

currently split at 47% diesel, 53% electric.

* Author’s research, based on data from Amtrak

Courtesy UIC 2016

Kansas City Southern

(Kansas City, MO)

US Headquartered Class I (Freight) Railways

Union Pacific Corporation

(Omaha, NE)

Norfolk Southern Corporation

(Norfolk, VA)

CSX Corporation

(Jacksonville, FL)

BNSF Railway

(Fort Worth, TX)

Courtesy Amtrak.com

Courtesy USDOT

Locomotives: Exhaust Emissions

Standards (3/2016)

Europe (Valid in 2019)

1 bhp-hr =~ .75 kWh, so US Tier 4:

HC: .187 g/kWh

NOx: 1.73 g/kWh

PM: .04 g/kWh

CO: 2.0 g/kWh

And then there’s California…

1 bhp-hr =~ .75 kWh, so proposed levels:

HC: 0.0267g/kWh

NOx: 0.2667 g/kWh

PM: <.01333 g/kWh

Why hybridize?

A hybrid vehicle has a primary power sources and an on-board energy storage device

Primary power source/power-plant

Wayside electrification

Combustion engine

Turbine

Fuel cell

Storage device

Batteries

Flywheels

Supercapacitors

Benefits:

Capture regenerative braking energy

Operate prime mover (especially an engine) in its optimal zone(s)

Opportunity to downsize the prime mover

Not all routes equally benefit…

Regenerative Braking Kinetic energy

converted into electrical in traction motors during braking

Electricity either returned to wayside infrastructure or stored on-board

Potential for energy recovery largely dependent on duty cycle

Frequent braking events, e.g., for station stops have high potential

Speed less important

Case Studies - Dissertation

Commuter-Intercity Blend (Capitol Corridor)

Analogues: NCDOT RGH-CLT (N. Carolina), Blue Water (Michigan)

Heavy Commuter (Caltrain)

Analogues: FrontRunner (Utah), GoTransit (Toronto), MARC (Maryland)

Intermodal Freight Line

Switcher Locomotive Duty Cycle

Courtesy imallaboardflorida.com

Court

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inw

eb.o

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Author’s collection

Passenger Rail Initial Study Results

Thank you./ Danke schön

Questions??