Rail transportation by hydrogen vs. electrification – Case study for Ontario Canada, I: Propulsion and storage

Cities around the world are expanding their passenger train operations to address concerns with GHG pollution, noise and high costs of commuter transportation. Locomotives offer an attractive mode of transportation in terms of energy consumption per passenger kilometre of travel. This paper compares hydrogen against electrification as cleaner alternatives to power diesel locomotives. Disadvantages of electrification include the capital investment to install electrical substations and catenaries, together with a lack of flexibility for locomotives to move into other service areas not covered by electrification. This paper specifically analyzes the implementation and operation of hydrogen passenger locomotives in the GO Transit Lakeshore corridor, through Toronto, between Oshawa and Hamilton, Ontario. A sensitivity analysis is performed over a range of operational costs for a hydrogen train, with variability of feedstock prices, fuel cell power density and expected return on capital investment. Various methods of propulsion and storage are compared against electrification. The installation and operational costs in dollars per train-km are analyzed for various train scenarios and results are presented.