Keeping a Good Train Rolling

"Every year since 2005, academic, industry and government leaders from around the world have gathered to expedite deployment of hydrogen railway traction—"hydrail."  These conferees' shared interest is bringing the energy security, environmental, and economic development benefits of hydrail to society sooner. 

This year's Fourth International Hydrail Conference is in Valencia, Spain, on June 9. The International Hydrail Conference will bring together the world's leading experts in the development of hydrogen-fuel technology for railways. At the annual conference these experts assess state-of-the-art technologies and global R&D activities. The 2008 conference will showcase projects applying hydrogen and fuel cell technology to railways and examine scenarios for integrating these technologies into existing transport systems and other factors related to the energy supplies of railways.

The Fourth International Hydrail Conference will be held, at The Oceanographic City of Science, Valencia, Spain - one of the most modern facilities in Europe. The conference is being organized by Spain-based NTDA Energía (Valencia, Spain) in collaboration with the Appalachian State University Energy Center (Boone, North Carolina, USA) and the Hydrogen Economy Advancement Team at the Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corporation (Mooresville, North Carolina, USA). Speakers and attendees will continue facilitating innovative technology development with a focus on providing solutions to the changing market demands of the railway sector. Solution s to common challenges will be identified and new proposals will be put forward to identify opportunities for hydrail technology applications to meet important local needs and to remove barriers to deployment and continued technological development.

Hydrogen is destined to supplant diesel as traction fuel for railways for the same reason diesel supplanted steam beginning in the mid-1920's:  economics and the environment.  The countries and operators who understand this dynamic earliest will gain major environmental and capital utilization advantages.

Confirmed speakers so far are from the UK, France, Spain, Canada, Austria, the USA and the Netherlands and many more are expected.

Plan now to join us on the Mediteranean coast in Valencia, Spain, at the Oceanographic City of Science on June 9th to help make this vital element of the hydrogen economy available to the world more rapidly."