CZECH Railways (ČD) has issued a preliminary market consultation testing the demand for passenger vehicles with alternative propulsion. The operator is considering battery power, hydrogen power, bi-mode trains and conventional EMUs.
According to the notice issued in early-September, CZ wishes to find out the current possibilities of the market’s offering around a two-source vehicle that could use either a battery system and dependent electric traction; hydrogen power and a dependent electric traction system or another combination of dependent (electric) and independent diesel or natural gas traction. CZ also states it is interested in finding out possibilities around a train powered solely by hydrogen.
“The purpose of the consultation is ideally to identify suitable vehicles using a combination of different drive solutions and, ideally, also possible synergies,” CD says. “The aim is to check whether different drive solutions are based on the same vehicle platforms, and it is therefore possible, for example, for some components, such as mechanical parts of vehicles and interior elements, to use their interchangeability.”
