Chevron Corp. continued the expansion of its New Energies business with a new collaboration aiming to prove the feasibility of hydrogen-powered trains.

Hydrogen, according to a joint release, has the potential to play a significant role as a lower-carbon alternative to diesel fuel for transportation, with hydrogen fuel cells becoming a means to reduce emissions. 

“Chevron is dedicated to scaling up its hydrogen business to help meet the needs of customers who want to reduce the lifecycle carbon emissions of their operations,” Jeff Gustavson, president of Chevron New Energies, commented in the release.

For its latest venture, Chevron entered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Progress Rail, a Caterpillar Inc. company, and BNSF Railway Co. to work toward reaching definitive agreements on a demonstration to confirm the feasibility and performance of hydrogen fuel for use as a viable alternative to traditional fuels for line-haul rail with three primary objectives.

First, Progress Rail plans to design and build a prototype hydrogen fuel cell locomotive for line-haul and/or other types of rail service. Second, Chevron expects to develop the fueling concept and infrastructure to support this use of the locomotive.  Lastly, the prototype hydrogen fuel cell locomotive is expected to be demonstrated on BNSF’s lines for a mutually agreed upon period of time.

“Our work with Progress Rail and BNSF is an important step toward advancing new use cases for hydrogen in heavy-duty transport, as we seek to create a commercially viable hydrogen economy,” Gustavson added in the release.

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As previously announced, Caterpillar is collaborating with Chevron for the demonstration of hydrogen projects in transportation and stationary power applications.

The newly proposed demonstration project is subject to the negotiation of definitive agreements with customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval. If established, additional details about the hydrogen locomotive demonstration, including where the initial pilot will take place and its timing, will be released at a later date, according to the release.