Skip to main content
Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Collision with a fuel cell and hydrogen train

Event

Event ID
1218
Quality
Description

An accident occurred between a tractor and an hydrogen and fuel cells train at an unguarded level crossing. The driver of the tractor, which had also a trailer, apparently failed to see the train. The train driver attempted to make an emergency stop but was unable to prevent the collision with the tractor.
The train derailed and the tractor was destroyed by the impact (its driver severely injured).
The train's 13 passengers were uninjured. The conductor suffered a shock.
The firefighters secured the vehicle involved in the accident and collected leaking operating fluids. The material damage caused by the accident is initially estimated at several tens of thousands of euros.
The train was lifted back onto the track. The single-track railway line will remain closed until further notice.
There was no damage to the hydrogen storage system onboard or to any other hydrogen system.

Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
No Hydrogen Release
Nature of the consequences
n.a.
Macro-region
Europe
Country
Germany
Date
Component involved
FCEV train
Failure mode
damage, no release
Initiating cause
impact, rollover, crash
Root CAUSE analysis

The INITIATING CAUSE was the collision between the train and the tractor.
The ROOT CAUSE was a human error, the tractor driver which oversaw the arrival of a train at an unguarded level crossing. An in-depth analysis considering the hazards implicit in the level crossing, aiming at identifying possible other causes, is not available.

Root causes
Date entry in HIAD
30/09/2025

Facility

Application
Non-road vehicles
Sub-application
FCEV train
Hydrogen supply chain stage
All components affected

train

Process temperature range [C]
ambient temperature (-50°C to +50°C)
Process pressure range [MPa]
medium to high pressure (10 to 50 MPa)
Location type
Open
Location
countryside or desert
Operational condition
Description of the facility/unit/process/substances

DESCRIPTION OF THE FACILITY
The train consisted of two wagons, a max speed of 140 km/h and a range autonomy from approximately 600 to 800 km.
Onboard hydrogen storage: total of 188 kg, 94 kg on each of the two wagons, in 24 pressurised canisters at 350 bar.
(from https://www.railvolution.net/news/fuel-cell-coradia-ilint-on-test#:~:text=Technical%20Evaluation,circuit%2C%20the%20pertinent%20equation%20being:)

Emergency & Consequences

Number of fatalities
0
Number of injured persons
1
Post-event summary

The level of damage to the train is unknown. Judging fro mthe only photo provided, it seems that only minor front area damagaes occurred.

Emergency action

A large quantity of fire departments responded to the scene, coming from several municipalities in the neighbourhood, summing up to 100 professionals deployed.
The firefighters secured the vehicle involved in the accident and collected leaking operating fluids. The material damage caused by the accident is initially estimated at several tens of thousands of euros.
The train was lifted back onto the track. The single-track railway line remained closed for a long period.

Lesson Learnt

Lesson Learnt

This is an incident involving a fuel cell and hydrogen vehicle, which nevertheless did not affect the hydrogen systems, and must to be classified as 'conventional incident' .

In-depth data

Release type
no release
Involved substances (% vol)
n.a.
Released amount (kg)
0
Release temperature [°C]
25
Release pressure [MPa]
35
Probable IGNITION SOURCE

References

Sources categories
News
Reference & weblink