India to have Hydrogen powered Train by 2023: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Tags: Economy/Finance

Speaking at the SOA University in Bhubaneswar, the Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on 15 September 2022, that India is developing hydrogen-powered trains and they will be ready in 2023.

This year Germany launched the world's first fleet of hydrogen-powered passenger trains. The 14 trains with hydrogen fuel cell drive have been developed by French company Alstom at a cost of around $92 million.

IMPORTANT FACTS -

Advantage of Hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle :

• The Hydrogen fuel cell is environment friendly and it does not emit any greenhouse gasses.  The hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen and air to generate electricity. The combination of air and hydrogen will produce water as a by-product which will be released by the Train. 
• India is committed to achieve zero net carbon emission by 2070.

Other Hydrogen fuel project in India :

• India's first hydrogen fuel cell bus developed by the CSIR-NCL (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- National Chemical Laboratories) Pune and private firm KPIT Limited was unveiled on 21 August 2022 in Pune.
• On 30 July 2022 the Prime Minister inaugurated the NTPC Green Hydrogen Mobility Project at Leh, Ladakh. It is a pilot project which aims to run five Fuel Cell Buses in and around Leh. This pilot project would be the first deployment of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles for public use in India.
• Amara Raja Power Systems is setting up India’s first green hydrogen fuelling station in Leh, Ladakh for the National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC). It will power the NTPC’s Hydrogen fuel buses. 
• India’s First India's first green hydrogen-based advanced fuel cell electric vehicle was launched by Toyota Kirloskar Motor ltd called Toyota Mirai.