Hydrogen conversion of a diesel locomotive: The rebirth of a Vossloh G2000

Today’s society is constantly looking for solutions to reduce the continuous increase in emissions into the air and the train has always been seen as the most environmentally friendly means of transport for handling large quantities of people and goods on long journeys.?? In this work a description will be made of the current situation in Italy regarding the railway lines, especially those related to freight transport, and showing how locomotives with diesel propulsion still exist and continue to be produced, having regard to the non-electrification of almost 20% of the lines currently in use.?? The analysis will focus on a locomotive in particular, the German Vossloh G2000 now always directed towards a lower use due to seniority but that has been the symbol of diesel transport on rail thanks to its power and regularity. After a technical description, the main problems or defects will be described.?? The goal is to convert it to a hydrogen propulsion and analyse whether it could work on a practical level, while maintaining the same performance and trying not to impact the entire weight of the same.?? We will then describe the main technologies available to achieve a hydrogen propulsion, in particular will be given a description of the main types of fuel cells currently on the market with a focus on the PEM type, that is the one suitable for the transport sector.?? And the main hydrogen storage solutions with their strengths and weaknesses will also be described. Then, returning to the chosen locomotive, each unnecessary component will be removed in order to recover an acceptable volume of work. All the various components will be sized in such a way as to realize a conversion without changing its performance. To make the best use of the spaces, the solution will be adopted is to divide the required power on four 560 kW electric motors mounted directly on each axis of the locomotive.?? It will be shown how the addition of all the various components, including a battery pack that can provide an autonomy of one hour, will not affect in a negative way the total weight.?? At the end of all these analyses will be considered two real railway sections, the Sannazzaro-Alessandria and the Orbassano-Modane, two routes with completely different characteristics, one in the plain and one uphill, and by exploiting the data on locomotive performance and structure limits, an approximate calculation of possible hydrogen consumption will be made.?? In the case of plains, consumption will be obtained in line with the European guidelines on hydrogen locomotives, that declare a consumption of about 0,9 [kg/km], while in the case of mountains consumption will be four times higher, justified by the fact that this section is never runned with a single locomotive for the chosen load, of 1200 tons. In conclusion, it has been demonstrated how it is possible to convert such locomotives to a new and clean propulsion, even if at an economic level it has not been possible to perform an analysis of the costs and the possible times of economic return.