The Hympulso hydrogen-powered rail transport project reaches a major milestone

The Hympulso project is developing hydrogen technology for rail transport, integrating the entire value chain—from production to use in vehicles, including hydrogen refuelling stations and their impact on other rail infrastructure assets such as tracks and maintenance facilities.

Led by Talgo, the project is developing a pioneering prototype of a hybrid bimodal passenger train with gauge-changing capability, capable of operating on both conventional and high-speed networks, powered either by the overhead line or by hydrogen and/or batteries.

A multidisciplinary team from the Spanish National Hydrogen Centre has recently designed, developed and installed a bespoke test bench capable of accommodating and testing the 600 kW module that will be mounted on the roof of the train. The test bench consists on a green hydrogen supply system load bank that absorbs the power generated, thus simulating the demand from the train’s engine.

This validation phase has been crucial for commissioning all the equipment that makes up the fuel cell system and minimising potential issues during the subsequent phase of integrating the system into the railway prototype.

The partners involved in this project are: Talgo, Ingeteam, Optimus 3D, Repsol, Sener and Golendus. The National Hydrogen Centre, the Tecnalia Foundation and the University of Comillas are participating as collaborators. Finally, the infrastructure manager Adif and the public operator are contributing their expertise in an observer capacity.

The project has a total budget of €9,790,749 and has received funding from the programme supporting the renewable hydrogen industrial value chain in the areas of innovation and knowledge, under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (TED/1444/2021).