India debuts hydrogen-powered train as part of sustainability drive | Energy News

India joins a handful of nations which have efficiently deployed the zero-emission expertise of their rail networks.

India has launched its first domestically constructed, hydrogen-powered prepare, because it pushes its efforts to develop clear power use.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the locomotive forward of its first journey on Friday, hailing the occasion as a major day for India’s drive to grow to be self-reliant and sustainable. The introduction of the prepare sees India be a part of only a handful of nations which have efficiently deployed the zero-emission expertise of their rail networks.

Dubbed the “NaMo Inexperienced Rail”, together with an abbreviation of the PM’s first and final names, the prepare will make two return journeys every day alongside a 90km route linking the cities of Jind and Sonipat, within the state of Haryana. The ten-coach prepare can seat about 2,600 passengers and may journey at speeds of as much as 75km/h.

Designed, engineered and inbuilt India, the NaMo produces solely warmth and water vapour when operating, making it a lovely various to diesel.

Whereas India has already electrified virtually all of its 70,000km railway community, one of many largest on the planet, hydrogen trains can plug the hole the place electrification is just not potential.

Different nations working hydrogen-powered trains embody Japan, China, america and Germany, which launched the world’s first hydrogen-powered fleet in 2022.

The rollout is a part of India’s wider push to develop use of hydrogen and reduce its carbon emissions, with the federal government aiming to make the nation’s railways net-zero by 2030.

Prime Minister Modi has lengthy pushed different clean-energy efforts too, from expanding renewables to advancing India’s nuclear energy programme.

Whereas the nation nonetheless struggles with enacting effective climate policy, the launch of NaMo Inexperienced Rail marks one other step in the direction of a inexperienced transition.