Indian Railways to invite tender for 35 hydrogen trains

In a bid to fast-track India’s transition to hydrogen trains, the Indian Railways is set to float tenders for procuring 35 trains powered by the green fuel.

The Indian transporter has reportedly held meeting with major players including Siemens, Cummins, Hitachi, BHEL and Medha Servo, with multiple manufacturers showing interest.

Currently, Medha Servo is undertaking the pilot project for the retro-fitment of hydrogen fuel cells on an existing Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) train. It will be the first prototype hydrogen train, which is likely to start operation on Jind—Sonipat by this year.

Recently, the railway ministry had informed the Rajya Sabha that each hydrogen train would cost around Rs 80 crore and the ground infrastructure would require an investment of nearly Rs 70 crore per route on various heritage and hill routes. The ground infrastructure includes the setting of capacity of hydrogen.