Railways to run 35 Hydrogen trains under “Hydrogen for Heritage”: Vaishnaw
1 min read . Updated: 03 Feb 2023, 08:47 PM IST
Premium- “Indian Railways (IR) has envisaged to run 35 (thirty five) Hydrogen trains under “Hydrogen for Heritage” at an estimated cost of ₹80 crores per train
Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said that the Indian Railways is planning to run 35 Hydrogen trains under “Hydrogen for Heritage".
In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, the minister said, “Indian Railways (IR) has envisaged to run 35 (thirty five) Hydrogen trains under “Hydrogen for Heritage" at an estimated cost of ₹80 crores per train and ground infrastructure of ₹70 crores per route on various heritage/hill routes."
Besides, IR has also awarded a pilot project for retro fitment of Hydrogen Fuel cell on existing Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) rake along with ground infrastructure at the cost of ₹111.83 crore which is planned to be run on Jind –Sonipat section of Northern Railway.
According to the ministry, the field trials of the first prototype on Jind –Sonipat section of Northern Railway is expected to commence in 2023-2024.
“The running cost of Hydrogen fuel based train is not established in IR scenario. It is estimated that the initial running cost of Hydrogen fuel train-set will be higher which will subsequently reduce with increase in number of trains," it added.
Further, the use of Hydrogen as fuel provides larger benefits in the direction of green transportation technology to support zero carbon emission goals as a clean energy source.
