the trains of Gran Canaria Y Tenerife They will be powered by hydrogen. This is clear from the visit made yesterday to the workshops of the German railway manufacturer Alstom by a delegation from the Government of the Canary Islands headed by the vice president, Roman Rodriguezand the Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing, Sebastián Franquis. «The train is a modernizer, transformer and tractor of a clean energy such as that generated by hydrogen. It is the future of mobility and Canary Islands You have to get on it yes or yes, “said Rodríguez.
Together with him and Franquis, The delegation was completed by the island councilors for Public Works and Transport of the councils of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, Miguel Ángel Pérez and Enrique Arriaga, respectively. During the visit to the plant, located in the German town of Bremervörde (Lower Saxony), they detected “the advantages of implementing hydrogen trains in Tenerife and Gran Canaria”, in the words of Román Rodríguez.
The maximum speed is between 140 and 160 kilometers per hour
The also regional Minister of Finance, Budgets and European Affairs explained that the projects that the two capital islands have room for “medium-distance trains, with routes of between 55 and 80 kilometers.” The top speed they would reach will oscillate between 140 and 160 kilometers per hour.
«The great novelty is that hydrogen would be incorporated as an energy source, something in which both the Government and the councils agree. In the Canary Islands we have extraordinary natural conditions for its production and its use is not only positive, from the point of view of decarbonization and the fight against climate change, but because the production of industrial hydrogen for the trains must also be an accelerator towards energy sovereignty”, declared Román Rodríguez.
“The production of industrial hydrogen for trains must also be an accelerator towards energy sovereignty”
Hydrogen is obtained by breaking the water molecule (H2O) in a process that requires energy. If the source to feed this process is clean –wind, for example–, we can speak of green hydrogen.
It is one of the most explored avenues in the current race for decarbonization. To date, the key has not been found to make it competitive, but innovation and research processes have multiplied in recent years, precisely in order to achieve lower prices.
The trains in the Islands have been talked about for twenty years. In that time the projects have been prepared, with the definition of the layouts and the consequent corrections, and the urban plans that accommodate them. Still in the phase of searching for the necessary financing, there is enough time for hydrogen to gain prominence as an energy source with an accessible price.
Alstom has been covering the Buxtehude-Bremervörde line since September, also in Lower Saxony, and the forecast is to continue incorporating hydrogen trains until reaching fourteen units next summer. It also has a commission to place another 27 trains in the Frankfurt metropolitan area and six – plus another eight optional ones – in the Italian region of Lombardy. A dozen hydrogen trains will also arrive in four regions of France.
The model that the Canarian politicians were able to meet during the visit is an Alstom Coradia iLint, that it can travel up to 1,175 kilometers without refueling, emitting only water vapor and operating with “remarkably low” noise levels.
“The construction and operation of the trains must be managed by the Canary Islands and their councils”
Monday, Rodríguez and Franquis met in Brussels the possible financing channels to implement the project. Yesterday, the regional Minister of Transport pointed out that, regardless of the origin of the necessary funds to introduce the train, this “must be managed by the Canary Islands”. He also recalled that the Council of Gran Canaria dismissed through a motion “the possibility of integrating the railway” of said Island “within the state rail transport network.”
«The construction and operation must be managed by the Canary Islands and their councils,” added Franquis, which announced the creation of “a regional transport consortium to work politically and technically in the development of this mode of transport in coordination with the councils”. That at least is the spirit of the proposal in which the department he directs is working.
Criticism from CC
For his part, Canarian Coalition demanded this Tuesday “more rigor” with the trains after the “bumps” that he is giving looking for resources to promote “the projects first in Brussels and then in Renfe”. In the opinion of the nationalists, the government continues “improvising” with projects that he has kept in a drawer and that bring to light three months after the local and regional elections.
For the nationalists it is “nonsense” that Rodríguez and Franquis, “Go to Brussels to look for financing to end up asking Renfe for it; Either they are making fun of the Canaries, or once again we are facing an empty headline more than the Government is used to, only this has cost the Canaries the displacement of the vice president, the counselor and their teams to Brussels”.
