Tickets on India’s first hydrogen train reportedly cost between 5 and 25 rupees. The 10-car train, flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, runs between Jind and Sonipat in Haryana and can carry roughly 2,600 passengers.
It is described as India’s first indigenous hydrogen-powered passenger train. Power comes from a 1,200 kW hydrogen fuel-cell system. That system makes electricity from hydrogen and oxygen, and the direct by-products are water vapour and heat. A conventional diesel train burns fuel to do the same job.
Where hydrogen fits
The train itself is only half the story. India has already electrified more than 99 per cent of its Broad Gauge network, so hydrogen trains are unlikely to take over from electric ones across the country.
Their best chance is on selected routes that have no overhead wires, where adding them would be difficult or not worth the money. The Jind-Sonipat service is a pilot for that idea.
Passengers get cleaner operation and cheap fares on the route. Indian Railways gets a live test of whether hydrogen can stand in for diesel as a commercial option on particular lines.
One commentator put the central question this way: not “Can hydrogen replace electric trains?” but “Where does hydrogen make more sense than electrification?”
