New Delhi, January 7: With an aim to reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based energy sources, Indian Railways is planning to build hydrogen-powered rail engines which would propel passenger trains on a suburban route. Report says that the work on this new scheme has already begun and the new engines might touch the track by the end of 2021.

According to a report, published in the Indian Express, the mentioning of this scheme to develop a hydrogen-powered engine was found in 107th Indian Science Congress which was held in Bengaluru earlier this week. In that Science Congress, former space scientist D Narayana Rao had said that a group -- from SRM University -- is working on the research and development of the new scheme. Indian Railways Announces Integrated Helpline Number '139' for Passengers.

Elaborating more, Professor Rao had said, as quoted by the daily, "SRM University and IROAF have come up with the technical specifications to design a hydrogen-powered fuel cell-based train. So far only Germany has demonstrated and no other country in the world has done this." It is to be known that in November last year, the Indian Railways Organisation for Alternate Fuels (IROAF) had called for interest to develop a hydrogen-powered rail engine. This technology has only been successfully demonstrated in Germany so far.

Mentioning the working capability of the new engine, Prof Rao had said, "The proposed train will have four passenger coaches operating at 75 km/hr speed. One coach will carry the hydrogen gas cylinders, fuel cells, super capacitors and DC converters. Hydrogen will be the input to the fuel cell and the power output of the fuel cell will drive the train." Adding more, he expected to present the technical specifications of the new rail engine to the Ministry of Railways on January 10 and complete the project by the end of 2021.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 07, 2020 01:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).