CZECH REPUBLIC: The VUZ railway research institute has announced plans for investment to facilitate the testing of autonomous urban and suburban trains at the Velim test centre, and measures to lower the site’s emissions and produce green hydrogen for fuelling trains.
‘We invest about €2·5m maintaining and renewing our infrastructure each year’, said CEO Martin Bělčík on October 18. ‘However, over the next five years we are preparing fundamental investments that should reach a total of €24m. Much of this amount will go into services offered on the smaller test track, as well as into technologies that will help us further reduce our emissions.’
ETCS will be installed on the small track, in additional to the large test track which is already equipped.
Investments will also be made to improve environmental performance. ‘Reducing our carbon footprint is absolutely fundamental for us’, said Bělčík. ‘It’s part of the philosophy for the future development of our test centre. We already guarantee to our customers that the electricity they use at our facility comes solely from renewable resources.
‘We are currently preparing a project for our own non-fossil fuel sources of energy to cover not only our own consumption, but also the output of green hydrogen.’
