Successful Hydrogen Bus Grant for Merseyside

[gilesbus1]

RE: Successful Hydrogen Bus Grant for Merseyside

(26/03/2019 09:43)Barney Wrote:  Reading the article it would appear that all of these vehicles will be refuelled at the BOC plant in St Helens. I wonder if an out-station will be set up on the site for specialised maintenance of these vehicles' engines etc.

In Aberdeen where Hydrogen vehicles already operate, they operate from operators depots, and are just refuelled at the hydrogen refuelling station, no maintenance takes place there, most repairs are done at the operators depots, but they can be out of service for long periods of time waiting for spares from Van Hool, Ballard and others. No doubt the situation will be similar with Stagecoach and Arriva doing the maintenance at Gillmoss (Stagecoach) and Jackson Street, St Helens (Arriva), parts will be sourced from BOC and ADL, body repairs are simple enough but mechanical repairs may mean a vehicle is out of service for a while as the parts will be quite specialist and no doubt will be made to order and not manufactured in vast quantities, for that reason no doubt other buses will be used as a reserve, whether those will be any sort of green fleet remains to be seen.

I have ridden Hydrogen Buses in Aberdeen and they are fairly impressive, so I am certainly looking forward to trying then closer to home in St Helens and will plan to ride on them in a few years time.