RTRI started the development of a fuelcell powered railway vehicle in fiscal 2001, as one of its R&D projects for "environmentally-friendly railways." (Table 1.) The main purposes of this project are to reduce noise and gas emissions and to build train systems which do not need power-feeding facilities. RTRI has focused on developing a fuel cell available for railway vehicles which follows changing loads, and building a system combining fuelcells, a high-pressurized hydrogen tank, and an inverter which is a variable frequency power conversion device.

In fiscal 2003, RTRI succeeded in driving tests of a bogie with a 30kW-class fuelcell power module, and started the development of the 100kW-class system in fiscal 2004, and, this year, 2006, a fuelcell power module was mounted onto a test vehicle and running tests were conducted on the test track at RTRI.

    Table 1. Schedule for the Development
         2001-2003 FY              2004-2006 FY             2007-2008 FY

    Basic study on fuelcells    Development of the        Development of a
       as power source of       fuelcells for test            fuelcell system for
        railway vehicles             vehicles                     commercial railway
                                                                         operations

    - Basic study of a        - Making a 100 kW-class  - Study on the hybrid
      fuelcell system for       prototype system for     system including
      railways                  railway vehicles         energy-storing system
    - Study on types of fuel  - Examining fuel-storage - Test running of a
    - Making a prototype of     methods                  hybrid railway
      30 kW-class fuelcell    - Test running of a        vehicle
      system                    fuelcell vehicle
    - Driving test of a bogie

The test vehicle was equipped with the fuelcell power module, a high-pressurized hydrogen tank system, an inverter, and powered and driven by the fuelcell system at the test running.

Following are the specifications of the fuelcell mounted on the test vehicle.

    Table 2. Specifications of the fuelcell

    Item                Specs.                       Remark

    Type of fuelcell    Polymer electrolyte
                         fuelcell (PEFC)
    Output power        18.75kW/stack x 8-150kW      Net output power is 120kW
    Manufacturer        Nuvera Fuel Cells (U.S.A.)

Currently, running tests are being conducted to confirm the output characteristics and load-following capacity of the fuelcell system in order to pursue the possible introduction of fuelcell systems into train operations.

Although, at present, there still remain problems of cost reduction, increasing the output capacity, and downsizing, the success in these running tests drove the technology a step closer to the introduction of the fuelcell system into railway operations.

Part of the development of the fuelcell has been supported by the subsidy of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan.

This announcement was originally released in Japanese and the English translation was confirmed by RTRI.