How to ensure safety and get the best value from hydrogen
It is very rare that truly novel technologies enter an existing socio-technical system. Most innovations tend to be incremental and build directly on existing technologies rather than being significantly different. However, hydrogen fuel cells are very different from existing socio-technical systems such as diesel or mainline electricity. Despite this significant difference, they are already being tested within the UK by manufacturers. Some countries are even including hydrogen fuel cells within railway operations, already.
This might suggest that ‘full steam ahead’ is the best approach to take with hydrogen fuel cells right now, particularly considering the need for competitive advantage. The Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy (TDNS) has identified which parts of the GB network are most suitable for hydrogen fuel cells, and a few pilot projects (e.g. Tees Valley) have started. High quality research from the Centre of Excellence in Rail Decarbonisation at the University of Birmingham has often been critical to the development and success of these projects. The interest of manufacturers, individual rail operators and GB rail overall is easy to understand, because hydrogen fuel cells potentially provide a very low carbon and easily obtainable renewable fuel source.
This all shows that there are already multiple high-quality drivers in favour of making hydrogen operational on the GB railway. So why not roll-out hydrogen fuel cells without delay?
The reasons are safety and value. Hydrogen is very different than diesel or mainline electricity. It brings significant, and significantly different, safety risks. Some may be relatively obvious, such as the risk of hydrogen gas combustion under very high pressure. Others are less obvious, such as where on rail vehicles, and on which routes, hydrogen storage tanks should be installed. Existing track infrastructure will affect whether this can be under a vehicle or above it, each of which will have their own additional safety issues. The number and complexity of the questions, and the necessary permutations of them, are formidable.
RSSB research project about hydrogen
For this reason RSSB has established a research project to evaluate the ‘next phase’ of hydrogen fuel cells in rail. There are five essential questions to consider, and the research group has now reported on two of them. This report makes for fascinating and important reading.
The first issue is the suitability of existing standards and whether there are any gaps in existing standards. The research project undertook a comprehensive review of all existing standards and standards groups, whether they were within rail or outside it. A total of sixteen relevant working groups were identified and their work evaluated from a hydrogen perspective. A detailed gap analysis was carried out, and a total of 97 standards areas for development identified. These range from fuel cell placement to depot maintenance and operation staff competence to excessive electromagnetic emissions from the system, for starters. There really is a great deal of sophisticated expertise that must be applied to ensure that standards apply to hydrogen.
The second topic of the report is equally fascinating and important – the different boundaries of responsibility when including hydrogen fuel cells within the operational railway. The report considers the expected division of responsibilities between train operators and other organisations as well as the legal context. It discusses how these issues have been handled in other high-risk industries such as nuclear and construction. It concludes with reference to two thought-provoking case studies highlighting the issue of different boundaries of responsibility.
This report marks a very significant first step in enabling the roll-out of hydrogen to be safe, efficient and commercially viable, wherever it actually happens. It helps keep railway staff, passengers and freight safe, as well as the network as a whole. It will even help manufacturers design products that are the best for rail. Whether you are a hydrogen afficionado or reluctantly hydrogen-curious this report is important and useful reading. We’re keen to take the lead on evaluating hydrogen roll-out before it starts so that avoidable problems are prevented. We look forward to the next stage of this research project with confidence whatever the outcome.
