SOUTH KOREA: Daejeon municipality signed a 293·4bn won contract with Hyundai Rotem on July 25 for the supply of 34 hydrogen vehicles to run on Daejeon’s planned first light rail route, Line 2.
The trams are scheduled to be delivered from the first half of 2026 to mid-2028. They will have a range of 200 km before refuelling is needed.
Hyundai Rotem unveiled a demonstration hydrogen-fuel cell powered tram at the Korea Railways & Logistics Fair held in Busan in June 2023. The prototype tram has completed 5 000 km of test runs.
It was developed as part of a national research and development project which began in 2021 and was undertaken by Hyundai Rotem, Korea Institute for the Advancement of Technology, Korea Railroad Research Institute, Korea Automobile Research Centre and Ulsan Tecno Park.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy provided 28·2bn won contribution to the 42·4bn won project.
Line 2
The city of Daejeon plans to start construction on its first light rail line later this year. The 38·1 km Line 2 would run in a loop around the city centre, with a one-stop branch in the southwest and a four-stop branch in the northeast. There would be a total of 45 stops, including five interchanges with metro Line 1.
Part of the alignment would be in tunnel and the entire line would be catenary-free. An increased budget of 1·4tr won for the project was approved by the government in April 2023.
Following a planned six-month test run with the hydrogen trams, Daejeon city council expects to open Line 2 by the end of 2028.
