French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom has joined forces with Eversholt Rail to provide the UK’s first new hydrogen train fleet.

Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the firms will share technical and commercial expertise.

This will help Alstom design, construct, and commission a fleet of ten three-car hydrogen multiple units (HMUs).

The new HMU fleet, which will be built on Alstom Aventra platform, will be constructed by Alstom in Britain.

Final contracts for the fleet are projected to be signed next year.

Alstom UK and Ireland managing director Nick Crossfield said: “COP26 is a reminder of just how urgent the need to decarbonise our world is. Rail is already the lowest emission transport mode, but we can do even more, and I am delighted that we have concluded this agreement with our friends at Eversholt Rail which will lead to Britain’s first ever fleet of new hydrogen trains.”

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Alstom and Eversholt Rail earlier revealed the design of a new hydrogen train for the UK, which will be developed by transforming the existing Class 321 trains.

Meanwhile, the Aventra single-deck train has been built to meet the needs of mainline train operations, including high-capacity metro systems and intercity services.

Aventra trains have ‘modular’ design, from carriage length to interior layout.

As per customer needs, these trains can be transformed, providing benefits of low lifecycle expenses, as well as a lightweight cabins.

Separately, Alstom announced its financial results for the first half of fiscal year 2021/22.

Between 1 April 2021 to 30 September 2021, the company logged orders worth $11.13bn (€9.7bn) and recorded sales of $8.49bn (€7.4bn).

Adjusted EBIT stood at $384.36m (€335m), while adjusted net profit was $197.35m (€172m) during this period.

Hitachi Rail, in partnership with Eversholt Rail, recently moved to the advanced phases of designing and engineering an electric-diesel-battery (tri-mode) train.