Canada

This is not as good of an idea as you may think.

First is where the hydrogen comes from. Most commercially available hydrogen comes from fossil fuels. The most common process involves superheated steam, methane (aka natural gas), and a catalyst. Very little hydrogen comes from renewable energy via hydrolysis.

Second is efficiency. The total process of transforming renewable energy to hydrogen, storing and transporting the gas, then using it to move a locomotive is only about 30% efficient. There are significant losses at every stage, and it’s a very complex supply chain.

Now, compare this to very boring overhead electrified railroads, which have existed for over one hundred years. Modern systems can achieve nearly 85% efficiency from generation to locomotion, are cheap and easy to build, and have some of the most reliable rolling stock around since they’re essentially a really big slot car. The only downside is the big up-front investment in overhead lines, but that quickly pays for itself with the overall efficiency of the railroad system.

If you ask me, this is a bad idea. It’s somewhere between well intentioned but poorly thought through engineering, and the good old fashioned greenwashing of the fossil fuel industry.