Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) – The construction of a train fleet powered by fuel cells in Hesse is progressing. From December onwards, the trains are to start operating as planned in the Taunus network, as the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) announced on Wednesday in Frankfurt. Accordingly, there should be the first route and refueling tests in the Rhine-Main area in the summer. After the summer holidays, the staff will be trained. With a total of 27 vehicles, the fleet is the world’s largest with the environmentally friendly hydrogen drive, according to RMV.
“We are pioneers in the traffic turnaround in Hesse,” said Hesse’s Economics and Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir (Greens). The state is funding the construction of the rail infrastructure with around 2.5 million euros, which is almost 60 percent of the costs. In the future, the trains will be refueled in Industriepark Höchst. In the passenger trains, a hydrogen fuel cell generates the electrical energy for the drive. They only give off water vapor and heat to the environment. The Taunus network includes the four routes between Frankfurt and Königstein (RB12), Frankfurt and Brandoberndorf (RB15), Bad Homburg and Friedberg (RB16) and Frankfurt-Höchst and Bad Soden (RB11).
