AnarchoSocialist
Active Member
Writing about missed opportunities in the alternate transit history thread made me think about what is taking place today and if one of those moments where thinking big could really, really pay off.
So before I say much else here are a few links. The first is for 'The Hydrogen Train', a European consortium that is looking to develop a hydrogen powered train by 2010. Project development and testing is being handled by Danish companies with other aspects of the project being taken care of by German, Italian, or UK companies or research facilities. There is some information on the site including feasibility studies and some presentation material, though I have not gotten to reading it yet so I am not sure how in depth it is.
The next two links, one for a Globe and Mail story, the other the same story but by the Toronto Star about an election comment by Dalton McGuinty in Sept, 2007 about approaching Bombardier with the idea of them developing a hydrogen powered commuter train that would be used by GO in Toronto.
With that being said there are already companies in Canada that are working on hydrogen fuel cell technology, Hydrogenics and Ballard Power are two. And if you consider that the University of Waterloo, U of T, and Queens University only a few hours down the road, are among Canada's top research universities, you have what seems to be a really strong economic region with plenty of talent that would be suited too such a project.
Personally, I look at this situation and see a fantastic opportunity and one that should be capitalized on, and quickly. It is not about developing high speed hydrogen trains, right now at least, but even developing hydrogen powered trains that could serve commuter and some inter-city markets is something could result in huge economic spin offs for all those involved.
I know there are still a lot of questions surrounding hydrogen power and do not know enough about the technical details yet to really say if such a project makes sense financially, or environmentally. I am curious what other people think though. Is this a project that is worth aggressively pursuing or not?
So before I say much else here are a few links. The first is for 'The Hydrogen Train', a European consortium that is looking to develop a hydrogen powered train by 2010. Project development and testing is being handled by Danish companies with other aspects of the project being taken care of by German, Italian, or UK companies or research facilities. There is some information on the site including feasibility studies and some presentation material, though I have not gotten to reading it yet so I am not sure how in depth it is.
The next two links, one for a Globe and Mail story, the other the same story but by the Toronto Star about an election comment by Dalton McGuinty in Sept, 2007 about approaching Bombardier with the idea of them developing a hydrogen powered commuter train that would be used by GO in Toronto.
With that being said there are already companies in Canada that are working on hydrogen fuel cell technology, Hydrogenics and Ballard Power are two. And if you consider that the University of Waterloo, U of T, and Queens University only a few hours down the road, are among Canada's top research universities, you have what seems to be a really strong economic region with plenty of talent that would be suited too such a project.
Personally, I look at this situation and see a fantastic opportunity and one that should be capitalized on, and quickly. It is not about developing high speed hydrogen trains, right now at least, but even developing hydrogen powered trains that could serve commuter and some inter-city markets is something could result in huge economic spin offs for all those involved.
I know there are still a lot of questions surrounding hydrogen power and do not know enough about the technical details yet to really say if such a project makes sense financially, or environmentally. I am curious what other people think though. Is this a project that is worth aggressively pursuing or not?