Romania abandons idea of buying H2-powered trains

Romania will reallocate the EUR 360 million financing under the Resilience Facility (PNRR) from the purchasing of H2-powered trains to the construction of motorways "because there are no H2-powered trains," prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said, quoted by Economedia.ro in the context of his talks over the PNRR projects in Brussels.

Romania considered purchasing 12 H2-powered trains to use them on the non-electrified routes. The electrification rate for the country's railway network is only 20%, the lowest in the European Union except for the Baltic states.

PM Ciolacu said Romania held three consecutive auctions, but no producer showed up.

"We will have a renegotiation [of the utilisation of the Resilience Facility money]. Have you seen any in Europe, in the world, any hydrogen train? [minister of transport Sorin] Grindeanu held the auction three times. No one showed up. Why? Because there is no hydrogen train," Ciolacu said after a meeting with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

At the end of May this year, the Ministry of Transport, through the Railway Reform Authority, scrapped the third tender for 12 hydrogen trains because it did not receive any offer from the manufacturers. The first deadline for submitting bids had been set for January 26 but was postponed several times.

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