To support the expansion of Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s (CPKC) hydrogen locomotive program, Ballard Power System will supply the company with 3.6MW of fuel cells for use within its locomotives.

The order placed by CPKC will result in Ballard delivering a total of 18, 200kW fuel cell engines to the company, an extension of a previous order which saw CPKC ordering 20 fuel cell engines equating to 4MW of combined power. To date, the sustainable powertrains have undergone testing in three separate locomotives. In 2022, the prototype hydrogen-powered locomotives completed 1,000 miles of testing in service.

Plans outlined by CPKC and the CSX Corporation in June (2023) will see the pair entering into a joint venture to develop and deploy hydrogen locomotive conversion kits for diesel-electric locomotives.

Dr. Kyle Mulligan, AVP operations technology at CPCK, explained that the hydrogen locomotive program has the potential to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions created by locomotive operations. He went on to say, “We are excited to expand development of these pioneering zero-emission locomotives with collaborators like Ballard.”

 “We are thrilled to support our partner, CPKC, as they expand their development of fuel-cell powered locomotives to decarbonize critical transportation routes,” said Seungsoo Jung, vice president of Rail & Emerging Markets at Ballard. “Our teams have been working hand-in-hand to ensure success of this program and we are excited for the future with CPKC to help scale their growing hydrogen fleet.”