Railways sets eyes on hydrogen powered trains, invites bids for new tech

Successful trails can mean conversion of all diesel trains to Hydrogen

The Indian Railways has begun work on hydrogen-powered trains. An official statement said that the Indian Railways has invited bids for hydrogen fuel cell-based technology by retrofitting on the Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) in 89 km Sonipat-Jind section of Northern Railway.

Simply put, the Indian Railways wants to see whether existing diesel run trains can be retrofitted to use hydrogen instead.

"The retrofitting of diesel powered DEMU and converting it into hydrogen fuel powered train set will not only save the cost to the tune of Rs 2.3 crores annually by converting from diesel to hydrogen, but also save the carbon footprint (NO2) of 11.12 kilo tons per annum and particulates matter of 0.72 kilo tonnes per annum," the statement said. 

Setting an even more ambitious goal, the railways said, "After successful implementation of this pilot project, all the rolling stock which will operate on diesel fuel after electrification can be planned to run on hydrogen fuel."

Initially, 2 DEMU rakes will be converted, and later 2 hybrid narrow gauge locos will be converted based on hydrogen fuel cell power movement.

After conversion, the train will run on hydrogen fuel, the greenet mode of transport as hydrogen can be generated by electrolysing the water from solar energy, the statement added.

Presently, very few countries are using this method. The trial of one rake is being done in Germany and the trial of other in Poland.

The bidding date for hydrogen fuel cell-based DEMU rake will start from September 21, 2021 and the closing date will be October 5, 2021. A pre-bid conference will be held on August 17.