India’s first hydrogen train on Jind-Sonipat route to start commercial service on July 19: Ticket price, timing, stops
India's first hydrogen fuel cell train, branded "NaMo Green Rail," began daily commercial passenger service on the Jind Junction-Sonipat route in Haryana from July 19, 2026, after a trial run that started in late 2024.
The 89 km route is covered in about two hours at an operational speed of up to 75 km/h, running as train numbers 74010 (Jind to Sonipat) and 74009 (return), with 14 halts including Gohana and Jind City.
Ticket fares match ordinary unreserved passenger rates — ₹10 for the shortest hop (Jind Junction to Jind City) up to ₹25 for the full 89 km journey — meaning the zero-emission technology carries no fare premium for commuters.
The train is manufactured and retrofitted by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, on a diesel-electric multiple unit (DEMU) rake, and is operated and maintained by the Delhi Division of Northern Railway.
The service is part of Indian Railways' broader "Hydrogen for Heritage" programme, which envisages 35 hydrogen-powered trains at an estimated cost of about ₹5,250 crore, aimed initially at heritage and low-traffic routes.
Alternative Powertrains: Fuel Cell vs Battery-Electric vs Hybrid vs Conventional
Vehicles and trains that move away from pure diesel/petrol combustion fall into distinct powertrain categories tested for their working principle, not just their "green" label. A hydrogen fuel cell vehicle generates electricity on board through an electrochemical reaction between stored hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen, producing only water vapour as exhaust, and this electricity then drives traction motors — it does not burn hydrogen like a combustion engine. A battery-electric vehicle (BEV) instead stores electrical energy directly in batteries, charged from an external grid, with no on-board energy conversion process. A hybrid combines an internal combustion engine with a battery-electric system, using both energy sources together, while a CNG/diesel unit remains a conventional combustion powertrain that burns fuel directly to generate mechanical power.
Key Details
- Fuel cells work like a battery that never needs charging as long as hydrogen fuel is supplied — hydrogen and oxygen combine at an electrode-membrane assembly, producing electricity, water, and heat, with no combustion involved.
- The Jind-Sonipat train uses eight fuel-cell modules distributed across its rake, reported to be 100 kW FCmove-HD+ units supplied through an India-Canada industry partnership, feeding traction motors that replace the diesel engine of the original DEMU.
- A dedicated refuelling and hydrogen-production facility was set up at Jind, comprising roughly a 1 MW electrolyser producing about 420 kg of hydrogen a day and a 3-tonne on-site storage and compression unit.
The Jind-Sonipat train demonstrates the fuel-cell pathway specifically — distinct from the BEV trains/metros already running in parts of the network — making it a natural prompt for UPSC to test whether students can correctly classify powertrain types by their underlying energy-conversion mechanism rather than by "eco-friendly" branding alone.
National Green Hydrogen Mission
The National Green Hydrogen Mission was approved by the Union Cabinet on 4 January 2023 with an outlay of ₹19,744 crore, aiming to position India as a global hub for the production, use and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is the nodal ministry implementing the Mission, which sets a target of at least 5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of green hydrogen production capacity per annum by 2030, alongside roughly 125 GW of additional renewable energy capacity to power the associated electrolysers.
Key Details
- Approved outlay: ₹19,744 crore; target: 5 MMT annual green hydrogen production capacity by 2030.
- Expected outcomes cited by the government include over ₹8 lakh crore in investment, over 6 lakh jobs, and avoidance of nearly 50 MMT of CO2-equivalent emissions annually by 2030.
- Applications supported under the Mission span transport (including trains and heavy vehicles), industrial feedstock replacement (steel, fertiliser, refining), and energy storage.
The Jind hydrogen-production facility and the hydrogen train pilot are transport-sector demonstrations that feed into the Mission's broader push to scale up domestic green hydrogen production and its use as an alternative fuel across sectors.
Green Hydrogen vs Grey and Blue Hydrogen
Hydrogen is colour-coded by its production method and associated carbon footprint, not by any physical property of the gas itself. Grey hydrogen, the most common form today, is produced through steam methane reforming (SMR) of natural gas without capturing the resulting carbon emissions. Blue hydrogen also uses natural gas via SMR but pairs it with carbon capture and storage (CCS) to reduce (not eliminate) net emissions. Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis — splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity — where the electricity itself comes from renewable sources such as solar or wind, making the entire production chain effectively carbon-free.
Key Details
- Grey hydrogen from SMR emits roughly 6.6-9.3 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of hydrogen produced, released directly to the atmosphere.
- Blue hydrogen uses the same SMR process as grey hydrogen but captures a large share (though not all) of the carbon output underground.
- Green hydrogen requires an electrolyser powered by renewable electricity; India's National Green Hydrogen Mission specifically targets this pathway, not grey or blue hydrogen.
The Jind facility's roughly 1 MW electrolyser is the green-hydrogen production model the Mission promotes — using electrolysis rather than fossil-fuel reforming — directly linking the local train project to the national policy's production-method target.
India's Hydrogen Train Programme in Global Context
The world's first hydrogen fuel-cell passenger train was Alstom's Coradia iLint, which entered commercial service in Germany on 16 September 2018 on the Buxtehude-Bremervörde-Bremerhaven-Cuxhaven line, alongside the world's first hydrogen refuelling station for passenger trains at Bremervörde. India's Jind-Sonipat service, launched in 2026 after trials beginning in December 2024, is described as India's first hydrogen train, built on a retrofitted DEMU rake rather than a purpose-built hydrogen trainset like the Coradia iLint.
Key Details
- Germany's Coradia iLint (2018) was purpose-built for hydrogen propulsion and designed for non-electrified regional lines up to about 1,000 km range.
- India's approach retrofits existing DEMU rakes with fuel-cell modules under the "Hydrogen for Heritage" programme, targeting an initial fleet of 35 such trains at an estimated ₹5,250 crore across various regional/heritage routes.
- India's programme follows several years after Germany's pioneering commercial rollout, placing India among a small group of countries operating hydrogen-powered passenger rail.
Comparing India's retrofit-based, DEMU-origin hydrogen train with Germany's purpose-built Coradia iLint highlights two different technology-adoption strategies for the same underlying fuel-cell powertrain, a distinction UPSC could probe when testing comparative technology diffusion in the rail sector.
- Commercial launch: July 19, 2026, on the Jind Junction-Sonipat route (Haryana), branded "NaMo Green Rail"; trial runs began around December 2024.
- Route: 89 km, about 2 hours, up to 75 km/h, 14 stops; fares ₹10-₹25, matching ordinary DEMU fares.
- Manufactured/retrofitted by Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai; operated by Delhi Division, Northern Railway.
- Broader programme: "Hydrogen for Heritage," targeting 35 hydrogen trains at an estimated ₹5,250 crore.
- National Green Hydrogen Mission: approved January 2023, ₹19,744 crore outlay, target of 5 MMT green hydrogen production per annum by 2030, nodal ministry — Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
- World's first hydrogen passenger train: Alstom's Coradia iLint, commercial service in Germany from September 2018.