Bhubaneswar: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Thursday said that the hydrogen fuel-run train engine developed by Indian Railways has the maximum horsepower in the world.
Vaishnaw, who is also the Union Minister in charge of Information and Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, said this while speaking at a plenary session titled “Green Connections: Diaspora’s Contribution to Sustainable Development” of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention here.
Stating that only four countries in the world make such train engines, Vaishnaw said, “They produce somewhere between 500 to 600 horsepower while the engine produced by Indian Railways using indigenous technology has an output of 1,200 horsepower, the highest so far in this category.”
The minister said the first such train is expected to make a trial run in Haryana soon on the Jind-Sonipat route.
While the engine manufacturing has been completed, system integration of the same is currently underway, he said.
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Noting that India’s own technological achievements can help the country produce spin-off products and services, he said when the nation can build a hydrogen-run train engine on such a scale, the potential for adapting this technology to manufacture power trains for trucks, tugboats and others can be understood.
“Indigenously developed technology provides a unique chance to create derivative technologies for various applications,” he said.
The minister said such technological advancement gives the nation confidence and India has a long way to go in terms of achieving technological self-sufficiency and needs to make parts of the value chain.
Hambyarajen Narasinghaen, the junior minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritius, who also took part in the panel discussion, focused on the challenges of Climate Change in his country and sought support from India in providing green technology solutions.
Apart from Narsighen, Regional Integration and International Trade of Mauritius Rahul Fotedar, Founder & CTO of Morrow Batteries of Norway, Jagdish Nainwal, CEO of UPL for LATAM, Mexico, Indronil Sengupta, Swiss Biotech Association of Swizerland, Jitendra Kr. Sachdeva, Group President, SkipperSeil Ltd, Nigeria, Kishore Reddy, Anju Virmani participated and others took part in the plenary session.
Outside the function, Vaishnaw told reporters that the Centre has been taking measures to transform Odisha into a major Information Technology hub in the next two to three years.
He said this has been thoroughly discussed with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. The process will begin in this regard in a couple of months.
Vaishnaw, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha, said all steps will be taken to impart proper training to the youths as part of the efforts to make the state IT hub.
Noting that the Centre has announced railway projects worth over Rs 1 lakh crore for Odisha in the past, Vaishnaw said the construction work of these projects has been expedited and talks were also held with the CM for development of railway infrastructure in the state.
Vaishnaw also said that the Railways will run a special train from Odisha to Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Maha Kumbh-2025 at Prayagraj.
PTI
