In its first step towards going green, the Indian Railways has decided to introduce the country’s first hydrogen-fuelled train. Initially, the hydrogen fuel based technology will be introduced on the 89 km long Sonipat-Jind route.
The Railways has also floated tenders for
retrofitting the existing DEMU rakes into green fuel based train.
A Railway Ministry spokesperson said that the transporter, as part of the National Hydrogen Energy Mission, has taken a leap forward in development of hydrogen fuel cell based power movement to kick off the concept of Hydrogen Mobility in the country.
He said that this will be done by converting
or retrofitment of existing DEMU rakes.
The official said that the loco pilot of the locomotive will not face any problem as there will be no change in the driving console.
He explained that the retrofitting of diesel powered DEMU and converting it into hydrogen fuel powered train set will not only save costs to the tune of Rs 2.3 crore annually by converting from diesel to hydrogen, but also save the carbon footprint (NO2) of 11.12 kilo tons per annum and particulate matter of 0.72 kilo tons per annum.
The official said that after successful implementation of this pilot project, all the rolling stock which will operate on diesel fuel after electrification can be planned to be run on hydrogen fuel. So far, Germany and Poland are using this method of power generation in railways.
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