Stadler Rail builds world’s first narrow-gauge hydrogen train

Stadler Rail: the world’s first narrow-gauge hydrogen train Keystone-SDA

Stadler Rail has achieved a world's first: a narrow-gauge hydrogen-powered train. The train is intended for use in Sardinia and is currently being tested on a dedicated test track built in Switzerland.

Regional transport in southern Italy is partly characterised by lines with a track gauge of 950 millimetres, the company notes in a press release. Trains designed for this particular track gauge operate, for example, in Puglia, Sicily, the Naples area and Sardinia.

To test the rolling stock intended for these networks, Stadler Rail built a dedicated test track in the spring, running between Hemishofen and Ramsen stations in the canton of Schaffhausen. Almost 4 kilometres long, it features a third rail within the existing standard-gauge track.

It was on this very standard-gauge line that the FLIRT H2 hydrogen-powered train, built for California, underwent its tests: the idea to extend the line stems precisely from the success of this project. The systems of the rolling stock built for the Sardinian Regional Transport Company (ARST) will now be tested.

+ Swiss firm Stadler Rail will supply eight locomotives to Italy

“The imminent delivery of the new hydrogen-powered trains represents a decisive step for ARST,” says Carlo Poledrini, the railway company’s director-general, as quoted in the press release. “The trains arriving in Sardinia will have already completed a major phase of testing, enabling us to swiftly begin final trials on our network. This will allow us to make concrete progress towards zero-emission transport and greater energy self-sufficiency. This is a significant operational milestone that confirms our excellent collaboration with Stadler Rail,” concludes the manager.

Over the next three years, the new Schaffhausen track will play a key role in the commissioning of the hydrogen-powered fleet that Stadler Rail is building for the Italian regions of Sardinia, Calabria and Sicily. To date, tests are scheduled for a total of 21 vehicles.

Since the start of January, Stadler Rail’s share price has risen by 44%, and over the past twelve months the increase has been 57%.

Stadler Rail traces its origins back to the engineering firm founded by Ernst Stadler in Zurich in 1942. The company is now based in Bussnang in canton Thurgau and manufactures a wide range of rolling stock, from high-speed trains to regional trains, as well as trams and metro vehicles, which also operate on railway lines in Switzerland and Ticino. It employs 18,000 people, 6,000 of whom are based in Switzerland. In 2025, it achieved a turnover of CHF3.7 billion ($4.48 billion).

+ How we produce news in English
Translated from Italian, reviewed by an English Department journalist.