POLISH rail engineering firm Pesa has revealed details of the hydrogen fuel cell powered locomotive it is building for Polish freight operator Orlen Koltrans, a subsidiary of oil company PKN Orlen.

The locomotive is being re-manufactured using the chassis of an older SM42 diesel-electric four axle unit, most of which were built in the 1970s and 80s. The rebuilt locomotive, designated type SM42 6Dn, will have four 180kW traction motors and a modern traction control system with two liquid-cooled traction converters, each converter powering the two traction motors fitted to each bogie.

TSA and ABB are supplying the traction equipment. Pesa says the locomotive is now 70% complete and designed specifically for the Polish market. The company intends to display it at the Trako trade fair in Gdansk in September 2021.

The locomotive will use a mixture of hydrogen fuel cells and batteries, and has been designed to retain the traction characteristics of the original diesel-electric version of the SM42, which is rated at 588kW and is designed to haul up to 3200-tonne trains.

The onboard hydrogen tanks can store 175kg of hydrogen and these will feed two 85kW fuel cells. The locomotive will also have regenerative braking feeding its 167.6kWh lithium-titanate-oxide traction batteries.

Pesa has been working with both PKN Orlen and Orlen Koltrans in developing the design and to manufacture the locomotive.

Pesa, which has sold DMUs widely in Europe, recently announced that it intends to follow the SM42 6Dn project with hydrogen fuel cell-powered passenger trains.