India to roll out Hydrogen-powered train on next I-DAY: Vaishnaw

India will roll out its first hydrogen-powered train, designed, developed and manufactured indigenously, on the next Independence day, Union minister for Railways, Communication, Electronics and IT, Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.

India has been able to build trains which are among the best in the world and the next big thing will be when the hydrogen-powered train is rolled out on August 15, 2023, he said while speaking at a program ‘Modi@20-- Dreams meet Delivery’ organised at SOA here to mark 20 years of leadership of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi.

A train, built at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, recently is among the best five trains in the world, he said adding it moved at a speed of 180 km per hour which has amazed the world, he said.

“This train is better than all other trains on multiple parameters and a glass of water kept in the driver’s cabin stays undisturbed even when the train moves at maximum speed indicating its stability,” the union minister said.

Elaborating about the train, Mr. Vaishnaw said it starts generating power the moment the brakes are applied.

Referring to the Vande Bharat Express train, he said it took only 52 seconds to move from zero speed to 100 km per hour while the famed Bullet train in Japan took 55 seconds for the same.

Prime Minister Mr. Modi had asked the engineers to build world class trains which should be safe, stable, consume less energy and run at good speed. “Initially, the engineers thought they would import the same from developed countries, but the Prime Minister insisted that the same should be built in India,” he said.

Two trains which were introduced in 2019 had performed exceedingly well and the distance they had covered so far would equal 18 journeys round the earth without any major breakdown, he said.

Replying to a question, Mr. Vaishnaw said IIT-Madras was developing the Hyperloop which he described as the most promising transport. “The biggest factor in transport is friction between the vehicle and air. If you create a vacuum and move the vehicle in that vacuum the energy required for movement would be less and the vehicle can reach a speed of 700 km per hour,” he said.

Attention was also being provided to cleanliness of railway stations and a complete satellite map of the country had been prepared to identify 132 district headquarter towns which needed railway connectivity. The Detailed Project Report for the same was being prepared, he said.

Replying to a question, the railway minister said that the punctuality of trains in India was around 89 per cent at present which needed to reach 100 per cent.

Prof. Basanta Kumar Pati, Professor of Gynaecology in SOA’s faculty of medical sciences, welcomed the minister while Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda provided an outline of the university. Dean (Students’ Welfare) Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das conducted the proceedings.