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A Viking cruise liner in Iceland. (Photo: Viking)

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It's happening on land, sea and in the air -- multiple new trials to increase hydrogen's influence on the heavy transport industry are under way.

Key announcements in recent weeks include a major Italian alpine railway powering 14 trains with hydrogen; Viking confirming it was ready to trial the world's first hydrogen-powered cruise ship; and Airbus saying it had narrowed its hydrogen plane play down to a single design.

With hydrogen having near carbon-zero emissions, the announcements continue to show some of the world's leading companies remain committed to getting the most they can out of hydrogen.

The moves continue to be a boost for companies like Gold Hydrogen, charged with finding out how to commercialise the large amounts of natural hydrogen (and helium) they've found at their South Australian tenement. With doubts continuing to grow over the ability of green (man-made) hydrogen to fill supply needs, natural hydrogen continues to be one of the great hopes in the hydrogen supply chain.

In the latest of the big hydrogen announcements, cruise ship Viking Libra will make its debut late next year, as the world’s first hydrogen-powered, zero-emissions ship. The ship’s hydrogen propulsion system and advanced fuel cell technology will generate up to six megawatts of power.

Viking Ocean Cruises has also signed an agreement to build two new hydrogen ships, with a targeted delivery of 2031. Full details here.

A few days earlier, it was confirmed that users of a northern Italian alpine railway system would be doing so on hydrogen-powered trains from next year.

The 14 trains operate in Valcamonica and will be the first of their kind in Italy and were supported by an investment of US$396 million.

Polluting diesel trains are currently in use on the line, and will be replaced by zero-emission hydrogen-powered trains made in Italy by a unit of French group Alstom.

Electrification of the 110km mountainous stretch of track northeast of Milan was deemed too expensive.

At Airbus, the company said during its recent 2025 Airbus Summit that a next generation hydrogen plane could enter service in the second half of the 2030s.

Airbus Head of Future Programmes Bruno Fichefeux said: “Hydrogen is at the heart of our commitment to decarbonise aviation.  Just as we saw in the automotive sector, fully electric aircraft powered by hydrogen fuel cells have the potential in the longer term to revolutionise air transport for the better, complementing the sustainable aviation fuel pathway.”

In 2023, Airbus successfully demonstrated a 1.2MW hydrogen-propulsion system, and in 2024, end-to-end testing of an integrated fuel cell stack, electric motors, gearboxes, inverters and heat exchangers was completed.

In other hydrogen-related transport news, Daimler Truck has concluded testing of next-generation Mercedes-Benz liquid hydrogen fuel cell trucks in the cold and snow of the Swiss Alps; and a hydrogen fuel-cell system enabling trucks to travel 1000km without stopping has been successfully tested in Beijing.

Hydrogen trials gather pace across world