Indian Railways has taken a big step forward towards running the country’s first hydrogen-powered train. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha that the construction of the country’s first hydrogen train-set has been completed. This train set has been developed as per the standards set by Research, Design and Standards Organization (RDSO). Now, to supply the hydrogen required for the operation of the train, a green hydrogen production plant based on electrolysis process is also being established in Jind, Haryana.

The Railway Minister has said that this hydrogen train set is the longest and most powerful hydrogen train-set. Also, this train-set has been completely indigenously designed and developed, which also shows the commitment of Indian Railways towards self-reliant India.

World’s longest and most powerful hydrogen train

According to the Railway Minister, the country’s first hydrogen train-set is the world’s longest (10 coaches) and most powerful (2400 kW) hydrogen train-set running on broad gauge. This train-set consists of two Driving Power Cars (DPC) with a capacity of 1200 kW per power car i.e. 2400 kW in total.

8 passenger coaches installed in hydrogen train

Eight passenger coaches have been installed in the hydrogen train set. Environment friendly technology has been used. This hydrogen-powered train set produces zero carbon dioxide emissions and its only emission is water vapour. This next generation railway fuel technology is a big leap for Indian Railways in the development of clean, green and alternative fuel based technology.

The Railway Minister has said in reply that this is the first effort of Indian Railways from the first phase of the project to prototype construction and development of hydrogen traction technology. Since it is still a pilot project, it is not right to compare its cost with the existing conventional traction systems.