Daejeon Tram Confirmed as 'Hydrogen and Catenary-Free System'... "Target Opening in 2028"

The Daejeon tram will be constructed using a completely catenary-free system applying hydrogen technology.

Mayor Lee Jang-woo of Daejeon is announcing the finalized construction plan for Daejeon Urban Railway Line 2 at Daejeon City Hall on the 7th. Photo by Daejeon City

On the 7th, Lee Jang-woo, the mayor of Daejeon, confirmed and announced the construction plan for Daejeon Urban Railway Line 2 with this content.

Following the confirmation of the construction plan, Daejeon City will start building the Daejeon tram next year and aims to open it in 2028.

The core of the project is to build a tram line as a circular route connecting 45 stations over a total length of 38.1 km, with a total project cost of 1.4091 trillion KRW.

The hydrogen tram to be introduced by Daejeon City is characterized by running in a completely catenary-free manner without external electric supply facilities such as large-scale substations and transformers, by securing power (driving force) through the chemical reaction of hydrogen stored in the hydrogen tank inside the vehicle and oxygen.

The hydrogen tram was produced as a national research and development project and has completed performance evaluation on the Osong comprehensive railway test track. Mass production is expected to be possible from next year.

Daejeon City requested preliminary technical reviews from 15 domestic and international tram vehicle manufacturers on the premise of introducing a “completely catenary-free tram.” Through CEO meetings, expert consultations, technical proposal contests, and evaluations, the possibility of introducing hydrogen trams was confirmed.

Also, starting with the announcement of the technical proposal submission guide in July, a two-month contest was held (July 31 to October 4). As a result of the submission deadline, three leading domestic railway vehicle manufacturers proposed technologies in three ways: hydrogen tram, LTO battery tram with station power supply method, and hybrid tram.

Diagram of Hydrogen Tram Operating Principle. Provided by Daejeon City

After the contest deadline, Daejeon City conducted evaluations in the order of the first institutional evaluation and the second external expert evaluation, selecting the hydrogen tram, which had a comparative advantage, as the “priority negotiation technology.”

The technology was proposed by Hyundai Rotem, and Daejeon City explained that it recently finalized the introduction of the hydrogen tram through negotiation processes with Hyundai Rotem regarding vehicle price and hydrogen supply methods.

Applying the technology proposed by Hyundai Rotem, the hydrogen tram is expected to run 227 km on a single charge, enabling stable catenary-free operation even on the long-distance circular route (38.1 km).

Also, by producing the electricity required for driving internally, it has advantages such as no operational restrictions due to external environmental factors like road flooding or freezing, and the ability to flexibly extend the route at low cost when route expansion is needed in the future.

In particular, during the negotiation process, Hyundai Rotem proposed a private investment plan worth 90 billion KRW for hydrogen production facilities using biogas and hydrogen charging facilities, and a plan to supply hydrogen necessary for hydrogen tram operation at 4,344 KRW per kilogram, about half the market price, for the next 30 years, Daejeon City explained.

Accordingly, hydrogen-related infrastructure is expected to be promoted as a private investment project without local government funding.

Hydrogen Tram Major Route Map. Provided by Daejeon City

Daejeon City plans to complete the detailed design based on the vehicle price and specifications of the hydrogen tram proposed by Hyundai Rotem and prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP) for selecting the vehicle sector operator. The final operator selection (tram vehicle manufacturer) will be decided through a future open competitive bidding.

Lee Jang-woo, mayor of Daejeon, said, “It is especially meaningful that the hydrogen tram, a future railway technology, will be introduced for the first time in Korea in the science capital Daejeon,” and added, “Daejeon City will speed up the project to start construction of the hydrogen tram next year.”