ITALY: Stadler has unveiled a 950 mm gauge battery trainset for Ferrovie Appulo Lucane, and signed a contract to supply two hydrogen trains to Ferrovia Circumetnea which also uses the so-called Italian metre gauge.
Ferrovie Appulo Lucane battery train
The first of seven battery trainsets ordered by Bari-based narrow gauge operator FAL in 2023 and 2024 was on show at the Expo Ferroviaria trade fair in Milano. Entry into service on the 27·4 km Altamura – Matera branch is planned from 2026, with the seven units expected to save a total of more than 1 300 tonnes of CO2 per year.
The two-car unit is 36·5 m long and 2 500 mm wide and has a capacity of 164 passengers, including 87 seated.
There are two twin-leaf 1 300 mm wide doors per side with sliding steps for easy boarding from platforms only 250 mm high. The entrance is 519 mm high and the high floor areas are at 945 and 1 039 mm. There is an accessible toilet in the low floor area.
The unit is designed for a low axleload, with the battery and traction equipment located above the powered bogies for good adhesion. There are two DC pantographs for charging the batteries.
The units are being built at Bussnang and will be subject to rigorous testing according to the requirements of Italian safety agency ANSFISA. The design speed is 120 km/h, although they will be limited to 100 km/h in service.
Ferrovia Circumetnea opts for hydrogen
On October 1 Ferrovia Circumetnea signed an order for two hydrogen trains, with an option for 13 more. Previous orders placed by ARST and Ferrovie della Calabria means 19 Stadler narrow-gauge hydrogen trainsets have now been ordered for Italy, although Circumetena’s restricted loading gauge will require its trains to have a slightly different design.
The first of the hydrogen trains is scheduled to be completed in June 2026.
‘The design is modular’, Stadler Italy’s Marketing & Sales Director Maurizio Oberti told Railway Gazette International. ‘The basic version is a two-car trainset, like the battery train for FAL. For Circumetnea we added four-axle hydrogen powerpack in the middle.’ Changing the bogies has also lowered the axleload to a ‘very low’ 10·2 tonnes.
FCE will build three hydrogen refuelling stations.
The hydrogen trains will also have batteries, although these will be smaller than for the battery-only trains, and a hydrogen train could be used as a battery-only train.
Oberti said ‘all the regions where operators which have ordered hydrogen trainsets from Stadler have more than 300 sunny days per year, and solar farms are constantly producing electricity. So here the efficiency is not a problem, as there are constant sources of electricity for producing hydrogen.’
