On 13 April 2018, a special rail service took around 150 passengers from Wiesbaden to Frankfurt-Höchst. During the trip, they could gain a first-hand impression of the technology behind the world’s first fuel cell-driven regional train, the Coradia iLint from manufacturer Alstom. Tarek Al-Wazir, Hesse’s Minister of Economics and Transport, was also on board. Fuel cell-run trains provide a quiet and climate-friendly alternative to diesel vehicles on rail lines without overhead power. Such trains are to be deployed in the Taunus network from 2022. The development of the railcar was funded by the National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP). Passengers travelling between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehude are to be transported with the Coradia iLint from as early as 2021. There they will replace the diesel railcars of the local transport operator Elbe-Weser-Verkehrsbetriebe (evb).