Forget diesel, electricity. Indian Railways will soon run Hydrogen train. The trials have begun. Videos are out. And its unbelievable. The IR has set record straight with global peers and has achieved a major milestone. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Friday that the public transporter has achieved a major milestone by successfully testing the nation’s first hydrogen-powered coach at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, .
“First hydrogen-powered coach (Driving Power Car) successfully tested at ICF, Chennai. India is developing a 1,200 HP hydrogen train. This will place India among the leaders in hydrogen-powered train technology,” Vaishnaw shared in a post on X.
Watch: Hydrogen Train Trial Video
First Hydrogen powered coach (Driving Power Car) successfully tested at ICF, Chennai.
India is developing 1,200 HP Hydrogen train. This will place India among the leaders in Hydrogen powered train technology. pic.twitter.com/2tDClkGBx0
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) July 25, 2025
Global Records
The Indian Railways has now confirmed that it has made some global records with the succesful trial run. The Indian Railways said it now own the world’s most powerful Hydrogen train with 1600HP engine. The train sets a global record with 2,600+ passenger capacity for any Hydrogen train in the world. The train will also be the world’s longest rake with 10 units including two engines.
Hydrogen Train Route
The Indian Railways has also confirmed that the train will make its debut in Haryana. It said that the proposed operational route for the Hydrogen train will be between Jind and Sonipat. The train will be the world’s longest hydrogen train with rake composition of 2 driving power cars and 8 trailer cars.
Charting a victorious leap towards sustainable mobility, ICF Chennai successfully tested India’s first hydrogen-powered Coach, a breakthrough for Indian Railways.#HydrogenTrain pic.twitter.com/W46UML1yb0
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) July 25, 2025
Heritage Routes
In 2023, Vaishnaw informed Rajya Sabha that Indian Railways has envisaged running 35 Hydrogen trains under “Hydrogen for Heritage” at an estimated cost of Rs 80 crore per train and ground infrastructure of Rs 70 crore per route on various heritage and hill routes.
DEMU Runs
The Indian Railways has also awarded a pilot project for retrofitment of a Hydrogen Fuel cell on an existing Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) rake along with ground infrastructure at the cost of Rs 111.83 crores, which is planned to be run on the Jind -Sonipat section of Northern Railway.
