Together with its partners, Deutsche Bahn is developing and testing climate-friendly solutions for the transportation of tomorrow - for example, the use of green hydrogen.
Green tank infrastructure
DB Energie GmbH has developed an innovative solution including a mobile hydrogen filling station to test the supply of hydrogen to trains. Green hydrogen is produced directly on site, using power from renewable sources, then stored in a mobile storage tank before being processed and cooled in an adjacent tank trailer. Communication between the train and the filling station enables pressure-controlled refueling that is adapted to the vehicle. This means that the vehicle can be refueled at the optimum time and sent back on the road as quickly as possible.
With its innovative hydrogen infrastructure, DB Energie GmbH won a tender procedure for Bayerische Regiobahn (BRB) and is supplying the first hydrogen-powered train for Bavaria with green hydrogen. A hydrogen filling station and a mobile storage trailer in Augsburg were set up for this purpose. The two-car hydrogen-powered train has been in passenger service since the beginning of 2024.
Discover the mobile hydrogen filling station here in 3D.
Innovation hub supplies renewable power directly to the overhead line
In addition to the production of green hydrogen, DB is also testing other technologies for the energy supply of the future at the Innovation Hub in Tübingen. The focus here is on a new type of technical interface to the overhead line: the so-called sector coupler connects the hydrogen production plant with the overhead line and a battery storage system and makes it possible to feed renewable energy directly into the traction power network. The aim is to gain insights into how to react flexibly to so-called dark doldrums in the future. Dark doldrums are days on which the sun hardly shines, the wind does not blow and, as a result, not a sufficient amount of renewable power can be produced.
H2goesRail - complete hydrogen system on the rails
Under the name "H2goesRail" Deutsche Bahn has tested a completely new hydrogen system for rail transport in partnership with Siemens Mobility since November 2020. Part of the project alongside DB Energie’s new hydrogen filling station concept was a special hydrogen train developed by Siemens Mobility, called Mireo Plus H.
The project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMV) as part of the "National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology" program and was completed in March 2025.
The aim of the collaboration between DB and Siemens Mobility was to test hydrogen technology for local railway transportation of passengers and make it suitable for practical use. The hydrogen-powered Mireo Plus H fuel cell train Mireo Plus H developed by Siemens Mobility was built, approved and extensively tested for the first time as part of the project. In addition, the hydrogen supply infrastructure developed by Deutsche Bahn and the interaction between the filling station and the train were tested intensively.
More about the project H2goesRail
Climate-friendly hydrogen fleet on rail
In collaboration with the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsbund (RMV), the DB subsidiary "start" has been operating the first trains of a new hydrogen fleet in regional rail transport in Hesse since December 2022. The Alstom Coradia iLint trains are powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. It generates electrical energy for the drive. The trains score double points in terms of environmental protection. They operate climate-friendly because they only release water vapor and heat into the environment. In addition, they run almost silently and thus protect residents along the routes from railroad noise.
The new hydrogen trains have so far been running on four not yet fully electrified routes in the "Taunus sub-network" in the Rhine-Main region. Due to a necessary technical adjustment of the fuel cells, some trains were replaced by locomotives with conventional diesel drive in 2025. After the overhaul, the entire hydrogen fleet will return to the line.
Hydrogen buses at DB Regio
DB is also advancing climate friendly transport on the roads, for example in North Friesland. There, the DB subsidiary Autokraft is operating two buses that run on hydrogen fuel cells in a pilot project in the regions of Niebüll and Husum. The buses come from the Portuguese manufacturer CaetanoBus and should have a range of up to 400 kilometers. The green hydrogen for this pilot is produced from surplus wind power. The buses can refuel at two publicly accessible hydrogen filling stations. This project has been given the name "eFarm".
Also in the district of Friesland in northern Germany, five hydrogen buses are taking passengers to their destinations in a climate-friendly way. The DB subsidiary Weser-Ems-Bus is taking care of the purchase, operation and maintenance of the vehicles. The buses will be refueled at a hydrogen filling station being built in Schortens. Both the buses and the refueling station belong to the HyFri project, which is setting the signals for an expansion of the local hydrogen economy in the region. The project name HyFri combines the words hydrogen and Friesland.
In addition, Deutsche Bahn has signed a framework agreement with the manufacturer Caetanobus for the supply of around 60 hydrogen buses. The vehicles have been delivered successively since the beginning of 2024 and are on the road in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. As well as their climate-friendly drive system, the buses have another advantage: they can refuel faster than the batteries of a purely electric bus can be charged and have a range of up to 550 kilometers.
