‘This Is The Future Of Railway Mobility’

India’s hydrogen train has 10 coaches, far more than most global hydrogen trains.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off India’s 1st Hydrogen Train between Jind and Sonipat in Jind, July 17, 2026. Photograph: DPR PMO/ANI Photo

Hundreds of banners featuring photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and central as well as Haryana ministers adorn the freshly painted lanes of the highway leading to Jind and the approach road to the Jind Junction station.

Residents say that many local roads were freshly paved and striped with lane markings just this past week.

Meanwhile, a beautifully redeveloped Jind station — alive with vibrant cultural performances at its entrance — is bustling with crowds eager to board the Namo Green Rail, India’s first hydrogen train.

“Do din baad aapko bandar hi dikhenge yahan (After two days, you’ll only see monkeys here),” says a police personnel, who has been pulling extra shifts for the last two weeks for a rare VIP movement in the otherwise monotonous but religiously significant town of Jind.

IMAGE: The Hydrogen Train decorated with flowers during its flagging off ceremony. Photograph: @NayabSainiBJP/ANI Photo

According to locals, trains have not been the popular option for many on the 89 km Jind-Sonipat route, despite it being a fourth of the cost of a bus ticket (₹25 for trains, against a ₹100 bus ticket).

The Jind junction is not a busy venue ordinarily, says a staffer at the platform. However, this day is different.

A sense of pride has engulfed the whole town, which has seen long-pending cleanliness and infrastructure work happen due to this launch, and feels lucky to have been chosen as the site which will go down in history as the birthplace of “paani waali train” (the train that runs on water).

“Did you know this train has 10 coaches while global hydrogen trains only have three-four coaches?” asks Sunil, who works as a server at a nearby dhaba.

He’s not going to the station, but says that he will try it out within the next few days.

Between the locals invited to ride the first train and those looking on from their shops and houses, the people of Jind know minute details about the train’s functioning that would elude some seasoned experts.

IMAGE: Modi and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inspect the Hydrogen Train. Photograph: DPR PMO/ANI Photo

How the Hydrogen Train Works

At the platform, the 10-coach train — painted in shiny blue — has been decorated with flowers and tricolour balloons, featuring ‘Hydrogen Powered’ and ‘Namo Green Rail’.

The train carries a small power plant onboard in the form of a Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell, the railways says.

Hydrogen stored in the train’s cylinders combines with oxygen from the surrounding air inside the fuel cell, producing electricity that powers the traction motors and turns the wheels. The train only leaves water vapour as a byproduct.

Chandrakant Kumar, the train’s loco pilot, along with the rest of the train staff, is donning a brand-new uniform for the inaugural run.

He has been training for this day while the engineers of the railways were fine-tuning the minutiae of the train.

Two sets of four-day training sessions were held in Chennai and Delhi’s Shakurbasti depot, where various technical aspects of the train were explained to several loco pilots.

IMAGE: Modi waves to students during the launch of India’s 1st Hydrogen Train. Photograph: DPR PMO/ANI Photo

Performance and Safety Features

The train takes four hours to refuel at the nearby hydrogen plant, says Kumar.

The facility stores nearly 3,000 kg of hydrogen at a time, and it is dispensed through two independent hydrogen dispensers at a regulated pressure of 350 bar.

“We can do two round trips on the Jind-Sonipat route with 100 per cent fuel, which is around 220 kg of hydrogen in each of the driving power cars,” says Kumar.

With off-hand calculations, he assures that it means the train runs roughly 360 km on 440 kg of hydrogen, with a top speed of 75 km per hour (kmph).

“There are some technical differences in terms of safety mechanisms, and the loco pilot cabin has some minor changes, but the larger operating protocol is very similar to a regular EMU (electric multiple unit),” he says.

Nitin Parikh, who is from Delhi and is one of the train managers for the flagoff, says that the train runs at 75 kmph not due to its own constraints but because of the track’s permissible speed limits. “It can run up to 110 kmph if the track allows,” he says.

Hydrogen is easily flammable, and the railways has built in safety mechanisms tested and certified by international agencies.

“If there’s any leak or safety concern, the engine shuts down. It is a failsafe mechanism built into the train,” says Kumar.

An hour later, with Modi giving the green light, the train accelerates out of the platform slowly, with non-air-conditioned coaches testing the exuberance of passengers on a sunny day.

IMAGE: Ashwini Vaishnaw, Haryana Governor Ashim Kumar Ghosh and Chief Minister Nayab Saini at the launch of the Hydrogen Train. Photograph: DPR PMO/ANI Photo

Future Prospects and Economic Considerations

“For now, this journey is 90 km long. But in the future, there are immense possibilities for expansion. We will continue researching how to reduce costs, how to increase efficiency, and step by step, after thorough investigation, we will keep moving forward,” Modi says in an address in the city later.

The storage plant, as the hydrogen economy grows, will be a source of employment for the local population in the future, Modi adds in his address.

For now, residents say that only railway and associated professionals have been working there in the initial stages, with little local employment so far.

While the journey is largely smooth, by the time the train reaches Pandu Pindara station, the freshly coated and painted seats have begun to lose layers of the coating, which has stuck to the clothes of passengers, who are puzzled to find their clothes covered in a dark blue layer of paint and rubber, wondering if it will come off after a wash.

Residents hope that this newfound fame will bring prosperity to Jind.

“What we have been told is that this is the future of railway mobility. Some have said that it is too expensive to become the future. Even if it is for vanity, I only look at the development of Jind in the last two weeks just because of the visit,” says Sandeep Kumar, who has sneaked on to the train with his wife and children from the Jind City station, as entry today is on an invite-only basis.

Kumar, who runs a small household fittings fabrication unit in Jind, says that agrarian income is shrinking in the district, and there is a need for a proper industrial zone here.

IMAGE: Jind railway station decorated with flowers for the flagging off ceremony of the Hydrogen Train. Photograph: @NayabSainiBJP/ANI Photo

Land prices have shot up recently, making leasing rates unsustainable for many farmers, who have now moved on to other sources of employment.

“Ek do aur aisa kuch bana dein, aur Modiji aa jayein to Jind me vikas to hota rahega kam se kam (if the government does more such projects and Modi visits, at least Jind will keep getting development work done),” says Kumar.

According to experts, cost concerns need to be addressed in the interest of propelling the clean mobility economy forward.

India’s hydrogen train initiative proves the technology is viable, though costier than electric alternatives.

According to Kuljit Singh, partner and infrastructure leader at EY India, successfully scaling this technology requires establishing dedicated hydrogen storage infrastructure and strict safety protocols to mitigate risks associated with highly flammable hydrogen.

“To bring down the cost to reasonable levels, the government needs to provide subsidies and also dovetail this with the ongoing green hydrogen procurement initiatives in India,” says Singh.

“As green hydrogen costs decline and supporting infrastructure scales up, hydrogen could play a meaningful role in India’s clean transport transition, while also triggering Indian innovation across the hydrogen value chain.”

Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff