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Qld looks to move coal trains off diesel

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    Topic moved from News by bevans on 16 Dec 2021 14:57
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    Hydrogen power for freight in Queensland could mean lower costs or is this simply the need to be seen as greener?

    Qld looks to move coal trains off diesel
    Posted: 16 Dec 2021 15:46

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      apw5910 Chief Commissioner

    Location: Location: Location.
    Hydrogen power for freight in Queensland could mean lower costs or is this simply the need to be seen as greener?

    Qld looks to move coal trains off diesel
    bevans
    What happened to the electrification plans?
    Posted: 16 Dec 2021 16:53
      Graham4405 The Ghost of George Stephenson

    Location: In exile
    Hydrogen power for freight in Queensland could mean lower costs or is this simply the need to be seen as greener?

    Qld looks to move coal trains off diesel
    What happened to the electrification plans?
    apw5910
    They're looking to do this for non-electrified lines. I don't believe there have ever been any plans to electrify to Mt Isa for example.
    Posted: 16 Dec 2021 17:02
      Sulla1 Chief Commissioner

    Hydrogen power for freight in Queensland could mean lower costs or is this simply the need to be seen as greener?

    Qld looks to move coal trains off diesel
    What happened to the electrification plans?
    apw5910

    Aurizon's planned hydrogen fuelled locomotives are to be used on the non-electrified Moura and Mt Isa Lines. The Moura line is owned by Aurizon, the Mt Isa Line is owned by QR, and neither owners have planning in place to electrify the lines in question.

    Additional information here...

    https://www.aurizon.com.au/news/2021/aurizon-and-anglo-american-look-to-hydrogen-powered-trains-in-queensland
    Posted: 16 Dec 2021 17:09

    Last edited by Sulla1 on 16 Dec 2021 17:11; edited 1 time in total
      freightgate Minister for Railways

    Location: Albury, New South Wales
    Would there be much involved in extending the overhead to Townsville ?
    Posted: 16 Dec 2021 17:42
      Sulla1 Chief Commissioner

    Would there be much involved in extending the overhead to Townsville ?
    freightgate

    Aurizon spent $170-million to electrify the 107km Rolleston line in 2014, that's $1.58-million per kilometre.

    Rockhampton to Townsville on QR's North Coast Line is 702km, so the bill for the Queensland Government and QR would be somewhere near to or above $1.2-billion.
    Posted: 16 Dec 2021 17:52
      petan Chief Commissioner

    Location: Waiting to see a zebra using a zebra crossing!
    Would there be much involved in extending the overhead to Townsville ?
    freightgate
    For the benefit of Freightgate and others not familiar with QLD distances and therefore overhead electrification costs, that 702km Rockhampton to Townsville as noted by Sulla, is much further that the 643 km Sydney to Albury.

    EDIT; also for those not familiar with the 702km Rockhampton to Townsville sector, the only bit already with overhead is the relatively very short coastal line bit where the coalfield line from Coppabella / Moranbah region comes in south of Mackay on its way to the coal port. The rest from Rockhampton to that Mackay district coal field line and north of the coal port area, is without overhead. Thus a very costly job to add overhead 702km Rockhampton to Townsville sector,
    Posted: 16 Dec 2021 18:17

    Last edited by petan on 16 Dec 2021 18:33; edited 1 time in total
      Expost Chief Commissioner

    Theyre LOOKING at hydrogen. Its no foregone conclusion.
    Posted: 16 Dec 2021 18:30
      Big J Deputy Commissioner

    Location: In Paradise
    Theyre LOOKING at hydrogen. Its no foregone conclusion.
    Expost
    I found it interesting that the quote said:
    "This visibility study will provide further evidence that this is entirely possible," he said on Monday.

    Is this new jargon? or is it a mix up with a feasibility study, as stated earlier in the statement?

    Going to your point, at least they doing at future options.
    Posted: 17 Dec 2021 09:31
      Sulla1 Chief Commissioner

    In 2020 Aurizon committed to having battery and hydrogen locomotives testing by 2025 to meet its Zero Carbon 2050 target...so the clock is ticking to get some sort of prototype up and running. Feasibility/visibility studies aside, Aurizon has a supposedly fixed timeline to work to.

    Meanwhile hydrogen-powered roadtrains are expected to be in operation around Townsville by December 2022, with the Sun Metals Refinery purchasing five primemovers to replace its diesel-powered vehicles.

    Rail operators need to understand that whatever green credentials they trade under - with their current "lower than road" diesel emissions - will be quickly eroded by the road industry moving to alternative "green" fuels. In fact the rail industry may find itself the dirty transport alternative if it doesn't start responding to changing technologies.

    https://www.railpage.com.au/news/s/aurizon-targets-net-zero-operational-emissions-by-2050

    https://bigrigs.com.au/index.php/2021/11/08/canberra-backs-hydrogen-powered-road-trains-in-townsville/
    Posted: 17 Dec 2021 09:55

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