Hydrogen-powered electric train (Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement's official blog)

By Koh Hyunjeong

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on May 7 announced its launch of a research and development project to test hydrogen-powered electric vehicles under the goal of commercializing trains powered by hydrogen fuel cells by 2028.

The plan includes construction of related infrastructure on conventional rail lines and trial operations of such trains.

To this end, KRW 32.1 billion of investment through 2027 will be used to conduct on-site tests of the core technology of such vehicles and aim for early commercialization.

The lead organization is the Korea Railroad Corp., which will produce a hydrogen-powered electric train (with two cars) with output of 1.2 megawatts, top speed of 150 kph (design speed of 165 kph) and driving range of over 600 km per charge. The vehicle will undergo trial operations on a demonstration rail line after completing a safety test.

In addition to technical standards for such trains' operation and management regulations, the ministry will provide support for the trains through institutional streamlining and removal of unnecessary rules.

A ministry official said, "Korean hydrogen-powered trains will dominate the global market and emerge as a new growth engine for the future rail industry."

hjkoh@korea.kr