ALSTOM announced on April 2 that it had acquired the rail hydrogen fuel cell activities of engine manufacturer Cummins, including the engineering, product, and support capabilities for hydrogen trains manufactured by Alstom. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
The acquisition comes after Cummins announced on February 5 that it would stop all new sales activities related to its electrolyser business after running up $US 458m in charges within the unit in financial year 2025. The US supplier cited weak customer demand and uncertainty around government-funded incentives for hydrogen rail projects.
Alstom has confirmed to IRJ that the acquisition includes hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing facilities, including Cummins’ manufacturing and assembly site at Herten in northwest Germany.
Alstom says it is “committed to providing sustainable rail alternatives for networks where electrification is prohibitively expensive.”
“While battery technology has advanced considerably, hydrogen trains remain an important solution to replace diesel trains on long-haul, non-electrified lines,” Alstom says.
Last November Alstom “temporarily paused” development of hydrogen-powered trains in France due to the withdrawal of French government funding for hydrogen research projects. At the time, the company’s then CEO, Henri Poupart-Lafarge, said that hydrogen technology was “not yet mature.”
Alstom believes that bringing the fuel cell capabilities previously owned by Cummins in-house will secure development work. The acquisition “gives us the capabilities we need to support reliability growth and maintenance for our installed fleet [in Italy, Germany and France] and to conclude the development of our contracted programmes,” says Alstom COO and executive vice-president, Danny Di Perna.
