Finland’s government-owned railway company VR Group will operate 20 regional Fast Light Intercity and Regional Trains (FLIRT) equipped with propane (R290) HVAC systems, according to Liebherr-Transportation Systems.
Railway manufacturer Stadler Polska contracted with Liebherr to provide the propane HVAC units for the 20 Finnish-bound trains, which include 80 saloon HVAC units, 80 heat recovery units and 40 cab units. Delivery of the systems runs from September 2024 to the end of December 2026.
“The start of serial production of propane-based HVAC units is another major milestone for Liebherr,” the HVAC manufacturer said in its magazine OnTrack. “The natural refrigerant provides a low greenhouse potential as well as maximum cooling, with a similar pressure as the previously used refrigerant R134a.”
A FLIRT with four carriages accommodates up to 800 passengers. The regions to be served by the trains in Finland include Helsinki, Tampere and Lahti, according to Liebherr.
In addition to the trains bound for Finland, Swiss rail manufacturer Stadler Rheintal has contracted with Liebherr to produce 166 R290 for inclusion in new Nordic Express trains, with delivery from September 2024 to the end of 2026.
Keeping it safe: “Our HVAC systems as well as our service concepts take all necessary safety requirements into account,” said Roland Friedrich, Deputy General Manager of Business Management at Liebherr-Transportation Systems.
- German train operator Deutsche Bahn commissioned two ICE 3neo passenger trains in mid-2023 with 16 R290 HVAC units manufactured by Faiveley Transport (Wabtec), according to Peter Danzer, Project Leader at Deutsche Bahn. He outlined the performance of the units and Deutsche Bahn’s subsequent additional purchase of up to 130 more R290 HVAC units in 2024 during a presentation at the ATMOsphere (ATMO) MAC Summit 2024 × TU Berlin. ATMOsphere is the publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com.
- “The attitude toward R290, deemed impossible [to use in rail HVAC] in the past due to flammability, has fundamentally changed,” said Danzer. “We’ve had no registered issues with the refrigerant in our trains.”
A CO2 option: Liebherr is also producing CO2 (R744) HVAC units for railway comfort cooling and heating.
- As part of a three-year demonstration from May 2018 to August 2021, Liebherr tested the concept in a Railjet fleet passenger coach operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). It found the CO2 units increased energy efficiency by 30% compared to conventional air-conditioning systems.
- “With the start of serial production of HVAC systems using CO2 as a refrigerant in 2024, we [are] on the road to more sustainable mobility,” said Reinhard Aigner, Coordinator of Research and Technology at Liebherr-Transportation Systems.
Quotable: “Propane, as a refrigerant, not only forms a natural alternative to conventional refrigerants but is also easy to maintain and guarantees a reliable product solution with minimal downtime,” Liebherr said.
