A €60m ($65m) tender in the Netherlands has been withdrawn after more than a year without a single bid. 

The province of Groningen and Arriva Netherlands, the train operating company that runs non-electrified lines in the northern region, launched the tender for four hydrogen-powered trains in November 2022. 

Despite successful testing of hydrogen trains in the region ahead of the contracts going out to tender, the small order size reportedly worried manufacturers. 

Hydrogen is also the chosen ‘green’ energy source in the northern Dutch province, due to local production using the region’s strong existing wind power sector. 

The local government hoped to replace all its regional trains with hydrogen-powered locomotives by 2035, although that may now need to be pushed back. 

Instead, the local government is now considering leasing train units, in order to meet its own deadline of launching a hydrogen-powered fleet by 2027. 

In 2020, rolling stock manufacturer Alstom successfully tested its Coradia iLint locomotives between Groningen and  Leeuwarden in the neighbouring Friesland province. 

At least 40 Coradia iLint units were ordered by Deutsche Bahn after the successful testing. 

Groningen is the intended base for Arriva’s proposed cross-border rail project, which would connect the north of the Netherlands with Antwerp, Brussels and Paris.