Test with Trains Running on Biodiesel
(Groningen (Google Translation)) The provinces of Groningen and Fryslân are going to conduct a test with trains running on biodiesel. Arriva will run on existing fuel with existing trains from September 2020. If this test is successful, other trains will also be able to use this cleaner fuel.
New trains
The switch from ordinary diesel to biodiesel (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil, HVO) results in 89 percent less CO2 emissions. It is a two-year trial. In December of this year a new contract will start between the two provinces and the transport company Arriva Nederland. Arriva will also continue to run trains in Groningen and Fryslân for the next fifteen years. Important agreements are renewal of the current fifty trains and expansion with eighteen new trains, the so-called ‘WINKs’. These WINKs will run from spring 2021. These trains include batteries to store energy released during braking. In addition, they run on cleaner diesel. The existing trains still use regular diesel, but if the test succeeds, all fifty will also switch to cleaner diesel.
Modernized
The first two existing trains have already been converted. The red-white exterior is now blue-green. The trains have also been modernized inside. Travelers have picked this out. There will be folding tables, possibilities to charge your laptop or mobile phone and silent coupes. READ MORE