Environment and Sustainability

Shortlist

Environment and Sustainability

Porterbrook Hydroflex

Working collaboratively with suppliers and academia to respond to industry challenges, Porterbrook is proud to have introduced HydroFLEX, the UK’s first hydrogen-powered train.

Following discussions in 2018, Porterbrook and the University of Birmingham agreed to retrofit hydrogen technology to a Class 319 passenger train and operate it at RailLive 2019. Porterbrook provided the train, fuel cell and engineering staff which constituted a £850k investment, while the university supplied staff and specialist research skills to the value of £350k. With challenging timescales, joint project directors from both the University of Birmingham and Porterbrook were appointed and integrated teams of management, engineering and research. Mainline testing is planned for September 2020 which would make HydroFLEX the first Hydrogen powered train to travel on Network Rail assets.

This project is a powerful example of collaboration between academia and the private sector to deliver innovation.