The March 2020 'Modern Railways' reports that Northern have submitted plans to the DfT for the use of around 12 'Breeze' hydrogen units on services from Middlesbrough; it's proposed that a maintenance/fuelling facility specifically for these will be built at Lackenby, and as the trains will only have a range of about 600 miles they will likely return to the depot each night. Services proposed for operate by these units - which will be formed from 321s with one coach removed and hydrogen storage presumably above floor as the carrying capacity will be approximately the same as for a 2-car DMU - are from Middlesbrough to Nunthorpe, Bishop Auckland, and Saltburn, but the possibility of operating to Whitby and along the Durham coast is also mentioned. The trains will be converted to hydrogen by Alstom at Widnes, so I guess they will be using what has been proved to work in Germany. The timescale for these is unclear; the article reports that the first hydrogen train could be ready for testing in June 2021, but this is based upon the construction of the Lackenby facility starting in January of this year.
Some 331s will have batteries added to work the Windermere branch.
What is a reasonable distance for a battery enhanced EMU to operate beyond the wires? 'Modern Railways' states that the Windermere fleet will be created by adding a fourth battery-carrying car to an existing 3-car set, and that batteries will also be installed beneath the existing centre car; if this works OK on the Windermere branch, could similar conversions work Manchester Airport - Barrow services north of Carnforth, or would this be too far even if a rapid charge facility was to be installed at Barrow? If not - and using this service as an example - would electrification between Carnforth and Arnside be sufficient to enable Manchester Airport - Barrow trains to go over to battery enhanced EMUs?