India's First Hydrogen Train, a 10-Coach Indian Railways Trainset Built for an 89 km Route, Was Flagged Off at Jind for Sonipat on 17 July 2026 and Had Covered More Than 1,200 Kilometres by 25 July

India’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train left Jind station in Haryana on 17 July 2026 on an 89 km run to Sonipat. The Ministry of Railways says the ten-coach trainset was designed, engineered and integrated in India, and a Ministry release of 10 December 2025 called it, at that point, the world’s longest and most powerful hydrogen trainset on broad gauge. On 25 July the Ministry reported that the train had covered more than 1,200 km since the flag-off.

It is a pilot. The Ministry’s releases describe the Jind to Sonipat line as the route chosen to demonstrate that hydrogen passenger trains can run safely and reliably under regular conditions, and the releases give no running cost per kilometre.

The train, the route and the numbers

The Prime Minister flagged off the train at Jind railway station on 17 July 2026, according to the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the government’s release agency. The route runs 89 km through Jind, Gohana and Sonipat, and the 16 July release lists 12 intermediate stations and proposed halts. PIB’s fact sheet gives an operating speed of 75 km/h on the section and a design speed of 110 km/h.

The trainset has ten coaches: two driving power cars, one at each end, and eight passenger coaches between them. PIB puts its capacity at around 2,600 passengers. The December 2025 Ministry release gives the power as 1,200 kW per power car, 2,400 kW in all. That matches the 3,200 horsepower in the Prime Minister’s Office release, since the 16 July Ministry release converts 1,200 kW to 1,600 hp per car. Some PIB documents, including the 27 May approval, quote only “1200 kW” for the propulsion system without saying it is per car.

Free Press Journal reported on 18 July that regular passenger runs would start on 19 July as trains 74010 and 74009, operated by Northern Railway’s Delhi Division. The paper said fares match ordinary diesel multiple-unit trains, citing the RailOne app: Rs 10 from Jind Junction to Jind City and Rs 25 for the full route. Railways has not published a fare table in the releases tuput read.

How a fuel cell moves ten coaches

A hydrogen train carries a small power plant. Each power car holds fuel cells, lithium iron phosphate batteries and hydrogen cylinders, according to PIB. The cells are of the proton exchange membrane type: hydrogen from the cylinders meets oxygen from the air across a thin polymer membrane, and the reaction produces electricity and water vapour. The electricity drives the traction motors. PIB says the batteries and cells work together to give reliable traction power under varying conditions.

There is no combustion. PIB’s fact sheet notes that hydrogen carries about 120 megajoules of energy per kilogram against 43 for diesel. The Prime Minister’s Office release adds that, unlike an electric train, a hydrogen train needs no overhead wires, because it makes its own electricity.

The Ministry’s 16 July release says more than 99 per cent of broad gauge routes are already electrified, and presents hydrogen as a step beyond that. The story of the wiring is in how Indian Railways electrified in a decade.

The refuelling plant at Jind

The train depends on a plant built beside the line. PIB describes three stages. Water is split into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis at a green hydrogen plant on site, and the hydrogen is stored in tanks. A compressor raises it to 500 bar, which lets more gas fit in a smaller volume. Two dispensers then fill the train at 350 bar, one per power car, so both are refuelled at once.

The facility holds nearly 3,000 kg of hydrogen at a time and is the railway’s first dedicated hydrogen storage facility, PIB said on 25 July. The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation granted the licence for storing and dispensing the gas.

The releases do not say what electricity feeds the electrolysers, how many kilograms the plant makes in a day or what the hydrogen costs. The 25 July release calls the hydrogen green. The national definition and the tenders behind it are covered in the National Green Hydrogen Mission.

Safety, as the Railways describes it

Hydrogen cannot be seen or smelled, and it burns readily, so PIB’s explainer builds the safety case around detecting leaks. Detectors for hydrogen, heat, flame and smoke sit on the train and at the plant. Ventilation keeps air moving through the train, and the system can cut off the hydrogen supply automatically. The driver’s cabin has a mode for moving the train to safety in an emergency and a screen showing the health of the whole system.

PIB says the hydrogen facilities follow NFPA 2 and the ISO 19880 series, two international standards for hydrogen systems. TÜV SÜD of Germany carried out an independent safety assessment before commissioning. Before the train carried passengers it went through load box, radio frequency, oscillation and emergency braking trials. The 27 May approval also required round-the-clock monitoring of the refuelling system and trained technical staff aboard during the initial phase of operations.

A last high-speed trial on 26 June 2026 took the train to 120 km/h on the Jind to Sonipat section, Business Today reported. RailwayPro, a trade outlet, said the test was supervised by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation, the body that certifies Indian rolling stock, and ran above the 75 km/h service limit as part of normal certification.

From a 2021 tender to a 2026 flag-off

PIB announced the tender on 7 August 2021. Indian Railways’ alternative fuels organisation invited bids to convert two diesel train sets to hydrogen on this same 89 km section and set aside Rs 8 crore for the year. The release estimated an annual saving of Rs 2.3 crore.

On 3 February 2023 the Railway Minister told the Rajya Sabha that the pilot, with its ground infrastructure, had been awarded at Rs 111.83 crore, with field trials expected in 2023 to 2024. On 10 December 2025 a Lok Sabha reply said manufacturing of the trainset was complete and that the Jind plant was being set up.

By then the project was described differently. The 2021 and 2023 releases speak of converting existing diesel units, while the December 2025 release says the work ran from design through prototype manufacture and was the Railways’ first hydrogen traction technology. RailwayPro reports that Ballard Power Systems of Canada supplied the fuel cell modules, which it says shows India still imports that part. PIB says the trainset was integrated by Medha Servo Drives, with Integral Coach Factory contributing its theme and exterior design.

What the first weeks show, and what is unsettled

On 25 July 2026, PIB reported that the train had travelled over 1,200 km and saved more than 3,200 litres of diesel. The headline of the same release says 3,000 litres. The release does not explain how the saving was calculated. It adds that trials on the Delhi route will begin soon, and PIB’s earlier fact sheet says the maintenance facility at Shakurbasti in Delhi has been prepared for hydrogen trains.

Cost is still open. In February 2023 the Ministry said the running cost of a hydrogen train was not established in Indian conditions and would start higher, then fall as numbers grow. In December 2025 it said that, because the train and its infrastructure are a pilot, comparing their cost with established traction “would not present a fair cost comparison” at this stage, and it offered none. Outlook Business, writing on 17 July, said hydrogen trains currently cost more to buy and run than diesel and that railway officials expect this to ease with domestic manufacturing, without naming an official.

Where it sits against Germany and the heritage plan

Alstom’s two Coradia iLint trains entered passenger service in Lower Saxony on 17 September 2018, running on nearly 100 km of line, the first hydrogen fuel-cell trains to do so by the maker’s account. The Ministry says most hydrogen passenger trains in service abroad have two or three coaches and are used on short regional routes. The ranking of India’s train as the longest and most powerful on broad gauge is the Ministry’s own claim, and tuput found no independent comparison.

The February 2023 reply also set out a plan called Hydrogen for Heritage: 35 hydrogen trains at about Rs 80 crore each, plus Rs 70 crore of ground infrastructure per route, on heritage and hill routes. The 16 July 2026 release is more cautious. It says the Railways is exploring hydrogen on heritage lines, including the Kalka to Shimla line, using what it learns at Jind. The 2023 plan named hill and heritage routes in general, and none of the releases read for this article gives a tender date or a train count for any of them.