PM Modi flags off India's first hydrogen-powered train, says wider rollout likely

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off India's first hydrogen-powered train at Jind in Haryana, describing it as the world's most powerful hydrogen train and signalling a wider rollout of the technology in the coming years.

The train will operate between Jind and Sonipat, covering a distance of 90 km.

“The hydrogen train technology is only 7-8 years old and only 4-5 countries have the capability to run it. While hydrogen trains plying in other countries are at a nascent stage, the one in India is the most powerful in this segment with 3,200 horsepower,” Modi said at a public meeting after the flag-off.


He said there was a strong possibility of hydrogen trains being deployed more extensively across the country. Research to reduce costs and improve efficiency would continue before any expansion, he added.

Modi also used the occasion to criticise the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government, saying the pace of technological upgradation in Indian Railways had been slow. He said during the UPA's tenure, 70% of trains ran on diesel and argued that had the same situation prevailed today, when the West Asia crisis has disrupted supplies, rail services would have been severely affected.

“The big changes that have taken place in Indian Railways in the last 12 years has benefited the country in another way. You can see that for the last few months, a war is going on in West Asia, in the whole Hormuz area, Iran and the Gulf. Petrol, diesel, LPG and fertiliser for our farmers comes to India through the sea route of Hormuz,” he said.

“For the last four months, this route has been a relentless battleground, full of hurdles. Had this crisis occurred before 2014, all railway work would have come to a standstill as most trains then ran on diesel. Had the supply of diesel stopped, how would the trains have run? The country would have been engulfed in a serious crisis,” Modi said.

The prime minister said although railway electrification in India began in 1925, only 30% of trains ran on electricity in 2014, while the remaining 70% operated on diesel.

“At this pace, it would have taken another 200 years for the trains to become electric. In the last 12 years, electrification of 99% of trains has been done,” he said.