BHUBANESWAR: Union minister for Railways, Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said India has become the first country to develop an eco-friendly, zero-emission hydrogen-powered train with the highest capacity of 1,200 horsepower.
While the engine manufacturing has been completed, system integration of the train is currently underway. The first train is expected to make a trial run on Jind-Sonipat route in Haryana soon.
Addressing the Indian diaspora during a panel discussion of 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on ‘Green Connections: Diaspora’s Contribution to Sustainable Development’, Vaishnaw said such remarkable achievement using indigenous technology inspires the nation to be a leader among major economies using green energy for growth.
“Only four countries have been able to develop hydrogen trains so far but they produce such trains with the capacity of 500 to 600 horsepower. The hydrogen-run engine developed by the engineers of Indian Railways has the maximum horsepower output than those developed by any country in the world,” he said.
India, Vaishnaw said, has to be future ready and manufacture some of the core parts of the value chain that goes into production of sustainable energy. Some of the core elements that need to be produced are green hydrogen, silicon ingots, lithium ion cells and permanent magnet motors.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for manufacturing green hydrogen with a collective investment of Rs 1.85 lakh crore. It will be one of the largest facilities in the world, he said. Junior minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Mauritius Hambyrajen Narsinghen spoke on the challenges of climate change in his country and sought India’s support for providing green technology solutions. Deputy CM KV Singh Deo, founder and CTO of Morrow Batteries, Norway, Rahul Fotedar, CEO of UPL for LATAM, Mexico, Jagdish Nainwal, chairman of Indian Business Chambers, Hanoi, Indronil Sengupta and chairman of IREDA Pradip Kumar Das also spoke.