Italy is investing 300 million euros in hydrogen trains and green hydrogen infrastructure

The Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport will allocate 300 million euros ($328.5 million) from Italy's post-pandemic economic recovery Plan to promote a new plan to replace diesel trains with hydrogen trains in Italy's six regions.

Only €24m of this will be spent on the actual purchase of new hydrogen vehicles in the Puglia region. The remaining €276m will be used to support investment in green hydrogen production, storage, transport and hydrogenation facilities in six regions: Lombardy in the north; Campania, Calabria and Puglia in the south; and Sicily and Sardinia.

The Brescia-Iseo-Edolo line in Lombardy (9721 million euros)

The Circummetnea line around Mount Etna in Sicily (1542 million euros)

The Piedimonte line from Napoli (Campania) (2907 million euros)

The Cosenza-Catanzaro line in Calabria (4512 million euros)

Three regional lines in Puglia: Lecce-Gallipoli, Novoli-Gagliano and Casarano-Gallipoli (1340 million euros)

The Macomer-Nuoro line in Sardinia (3030 million euros)

The Sassari-Alghero line in Sardinia (3009 million euros)

The Monserrato-Isili project in Sardinia will receive 10% of the funding in advance (within 30 days), the next 70% will be subject to the progress of the project (overseen by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport), and 10% will be released after the fire department certifies the project. The final 10% of the funding will be disbursed upon completion of the project.

Train companies have until June 30 this year to sign a legally binding agreement to proceed with each project, with 50 per cent of the work completed by June 30, 2025 and the project fully completed by June 30, 2026.

In addition to the new money, Italy recently announced it will invest 450 million euros in green hydrogen production in abandoned industrial areas and more than 100 million euros in 36 new hydrogen filling stations.

Several countries, including India, France and Germany, are investing in hydrogen-powered trains, but a recent study in the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg found that pure electric trains were about 80 per cent cheaper to operate than hydrogen-powered locomotives.