A new train in San Bernardi­no, Cal­i­for­nia oper­ates on a hybrid hydro­gen fuel cell and bat­tery sys­tem whose only byprod­uct is water vapor, reports Jules Feeney in The Guardian.

“The new tech­nol­o­gy will make Zemu the first hydro­gen-pow­ered, zero-emis­sions pas­sen­ger train in North Amer­i­ca to meet Fed­er­al Rail­road Admin­is­tra­tion (FRA) require­ments when it goes into ser­vice ear­ly next year,” Feeney explains.

The train is an exper­i­men­tal project, slat­ed to run on a 9‑mile route between San Bernardi­no and Red­lands, two cities east of Los Ange­les, and could pave the way for more wide­spread adop­tion of the hydro­gen sys­tem. The region suf­fers from heav­i­ly pol­lut­ed air due to its role as a major hub for dis­tri­b­u­tion cen­ters.

State trans­porta­tion lead­ers are tak­ing note: “After see­ing the ear­ly suc­cess of the Zemu project last year, the state’s depart­ment of trans­porta­tion – known as Cal­trans – com­mis­sioned Stadler to build longer ver­sions of the hydro­gen-pow­ered trains that will run between Merced and Sacra­men­to in the Cen­tral Val­ley on a yet-to-be-built line. So far, Cal­trans has ordered 10 units, with the option to buy 19 more under the terms of the $80m con­tract.”

Feeney notes that wide­spread use of hydro­gen ‑pow­ered trains will require heavy invest­ment in infra­struc­ture for build­ing trains and pro­duc­ing hydro­gen fuel, a process that requires ener­gy itself.