Iberdrola teams up with AECOM to create Italian railway powered by green hydrogen

Spanish utility company Iberdrola has announced that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed, with signatories including AECOM, for a project to convert Italy’s historic Apennine railway into one powered by green hydrogen.  Other members of the agreement include Italian sustainable developer Ancitel Energia e Ambiente and Italian hydrogen company Cinque International. Funded by the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, the project aims to replace defunct diesel locomotives with green hydrogen-powered ones. This switch will be a “drastically less expensive alternative” to traditional electrification, says Iberdrola. The company also claims that this will bring “innovation and development” to areas impacted by depopulation and deindustrialization due to earthquakes in 2009, 2016, and 2017.  The more than 186-mile-long railway line will connect inland areas of Italy, running through four central Italian regions. The MOU also includes an evaluation of the technical viability to ...