The only explanation I have it’s somewhat less energy intensive to extract hydrogen form natural gas (so fossil fuel guys can still get their cut), but it still seems silly, especially for train.
For areas like Inner Mongolia, which is largely taken up by the Gobi desert, it isn't really feasible to electrify there, so this could be used as a much more energy dense battery than is feasible with standard battery technology, and with much less if any degradation over time. Electrolyze a bunch of hydrogen somewhere with power, then run the train on the hydrogen.
The only explanation I have it’s somewhat less energy intensive to extract hydrogen form natural gas (so fossil fuel guys can still get their cut), but it still seems silly, especially for train.
For areas like Inner Mongolia, which is largely taken up by the Gobi desert, it isn't really feasible to electrify there, so this could be used as a much more energy dense battery than is feasible with standard battery technology, and with much less if any degradation over time. Electrolyze a bunch of hydrogen somewhere with power, then run the train on the hydrogen.
Its genuinely so foreign to me to actually have a new engineering feat be designed to solve an issue and not just as a spectacle. :sadness-abysmal: