Italian gas infrastructure operator Snam and state-owned rail network manager FS Italiane will investigate the technical and economic feasibility of hydrogen for rail transport in Italy.

The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding for collaboration on sustainable mobility. They will create a working group to assess possible pilot projects involving the replacement of fossil fuels with hydrogen, Kallanish Energy learns.

The goal is to evaluate the whole supply chain of hydrogen, including production, transport, compression, storage, supply and utilization. The initial projects on railway lines could later allow the conversion of the national rail infrastructure, they said in a joint statement.

“Hydrogen rail transports are a fundamental innovation capable of increasing environmental sustainability for both freight and passengers’ transports on the remaining railway sections not yet electrified,” said Gianfranco Battisti, CEO of FS Italiane.

“We aim to create infrastructure to rapidly convert trains currently powered by diesel in Italy to hydrogen, thus gaining a technological leadership to be capitalized also at an international level,” added Snam’s CEO Marco Alverà.

This post appeared first on Kallanish Energy News.