New Delhi : Taking a giant leap towards green energy and zero carbon emissions, Indian Railways has taken a historic decision to run trains using hydrogen fuel cells.
India will be the third country in the world, after Germany and Poland, to start using the purest green energy.
‘Indian Railways has taken a leap forward in the development of Hydrogen Fuel cell based power movement as a part of National Hydrogen Energy Mission, as per recent budgetary announcements and to kick off the concept of Hydrogen Mobility in the country,’ a Railway Ministry spokesperson said on Saturday.
The spokesperson said initially, 2 Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) rakes will be converted, and later 2 Hybrid narrow gauge Locos will be converted base on Hydrogen Fuel Cell power movement.
According to the spokesperson, Indian Railways has invited the bids for Hydrogen fuel Cell based technology by retrofitting on DEMU in 89 km Sonipat-Jind Section of Northern Railway.
The bidding date for Hydrogen Fuel Cell based DEMU rake will start from September 21 and the closing date will be October 5.
For this, pre-bid conference will be held on August 17.
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 crore 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 tons per annum.
After conversion, the train will run on Hydrogen fuel, the green mode of transport as Hydrogen can be generated by electrolysing the water from Solar energy.
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.
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