India’s pilot hydrogen-powered train project, spearheaded by Northern Railway, has moved into its final commissioning stage, the Haryana government said in a statement issued from Chandigarh.
The hydrogen train will operate on the Jind–Sonipat route and will be supplied by a purpose-built green hydrogen production facility in Jind. The plant generates hydrogen through water electrolysis and has a storage capacity of up to three tonnes, currently the largest ground-based hydrogen storage system in the country. To ensure continuous operations, the state government has arranged a dedicated 11 kV electricity supply for the facility.
Built by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, the train has a passenger capacity of 2,638, placing it among the longest hydrogen-powered trains in operation globally.
Haryana Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi reviewed the project’s progress alongside officials from Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), instructing them to carry out routine power system inspections. He emphasised the need for strong backup arrangements and swift response mechanisms to prevent disruptions during the commissioning process.
The demonstration project falls under the Railway Ministry’s ‘Hydrogen for Heritage’ programme, which focuses on converting legacy diesel locomotives to run on hydrogen-based technology. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently confirmed that manufacturing of the train-set has been completed in accordance with standards laid down by the Research, Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO).
By using hydrogen fuel cells instead of diesel, the train produces only water vapour and heat as by-products. The initiative places India alongside countries such as Germany and China in adopting zero-emission rail solutions and offers a blueprint for decarbonising large sections of the country’s non-electrified railway network by 2030.
With commercial operations nearing, India is set to join a small group of nations—including Germany, Sweden, Japan, and China—that have already deployed hydrogen-powered trains, underscoring its push toward cleaner and more sustainable rail transport.
