Iberdrola will collaborate with consultancy AECOM to breathe new life into areas depopulated and deindustrialised due to the earthquakes in 2009, 2016 and 2017, including the development of trains powered by green hydrogen.

The project has been preselected for investment from the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance and Iberdrola has signed a memorandum of understanding with AECOM, Ancitel Energia e Ambiente (a company specialising in regional sustainable development) and Cinque International (a company active in implementing solutions that use green hydrogen) to undertake the project to convert the Apennine railway, which links Sansepolcro (Arezzo) and Sulmona (L'Aquila) in Italy, to hydrogen.

Parts of the 300 km line have not been electrified and use diesel locomotives that have reached the end of their useful lives; the switch to green hydrogen as a fuel is a drastically less expensive alternative than traditional electrification and will bring innovation and development to areas affected by depopulation and deindustrialisation.

The memorandum of understanding also includes an evaluation of the technical viability of converting the Ferrovia dei Due Mare (the Two Seas Railway) to green hydrogen, which will connect Fiumincino and Rome airports with San Benedetto del Tronto by way of Rieti, Amatrice and Ascoli Piceno making Rome the leading city in the world in terms of trains powered by green hydrogen.

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