Hydrogen-powered locomotive project presented to Infrabel and the Belgian Minister for Mobility

October 12th 2021

Locomotives powered by green hydrogen to double the volume of rail freight in Belgium? Jean-Pierre Rorive (Transport Division – John Cockerill Services) participated in a working session at North Sea Port (Gent, Belgium) on this question.

Among the responses presented to Minister Georges Gilkinet and Infrabel CEO Benoît Gilson: a project to convert a hydraulic diesel locomotive into a locomotive equipped with a hydrogen engine, carried out with engine manufacturer Anglo Belgian Corporation and the Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB).

In this project, John Cockerill Locomotives is in charge of integrating the equipment on the existing machine so that Transurb can then homologate the engine.

Electrolysers, connected to the wind turbines on the port site, should enable the production of green hydrogen as a source of energy for the locomotive. A very concrete example of the importance of facilitating access to decarbonised energy to contribute to greener mobility.