The Indian Railways is introducing hydrogen and electric trains to eight heritage routes in the country by December 2023, according to Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw. 

These trains, which will run on the Kalka-Shimla Railways, Nilgiri Mountain Railways, Darjeeling Hills, Kangra Railways, Bilimora Waghai, Mhow-Patalpani, Marwar-devgarh-Madriya, and Matheran Hill Railways in Maharashtra, will include modified steam engines equipped with vintage sirens and green steam vapours.

The coaches of these trains will be retrofitted with hydrogen-propulsion engines, which will be used for commercial purposes by the end of the year.

As a pilot project, the railways is manufacturing a prototype of a hydrogen fuel-based train at the Northern Railway workshop, which will be test-run on the Sonipat-Jind section in Haryana.

"We will roll out the hydrogen trains on the heritage routes from December 2023. This will mean that these heritage routes will go completely green," Vaishnaw said.

The use of hydrogen as a fuel source has been developed by several countries, including Germany, France, and China, and India is now joining the ranks of these nations in adopting this technology. Hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity through a chemical reaction between.