Islamabad: The launch in Germany of a hydrogen-powered train has inspired Pakistan’s Railway minister to announce similar ambitions for his country.

Railway Minister Shaikh Rashid, reacting to a tweet by German Ambassador to Pakistan Martin Kobler, posted on his twitter account that he also looks forward to running a similar train in Pakistan.

In his tweet, Kobler had announced the first ‘hydrogen-powered’ train launched in Germany and termed it environment friendly as there would be less noise, less pollution and more efficiency.

Shaikh Rashid retweeted the German Ambassador’s message advocating a “less noisy,” “environment-friendly” train that would change the entire tourism sector of Pakistan.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has also been emphasising on protecting the environment as one of the key points of its manifesto.

Imran Khan’s “one billion tsunami” tree campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa secured his party the government in that province for the second time and this is why Shaikh Rashid hinted at running a similar type of train in Pakistan.

There was a mixed reaction on social media to Shaikh Rashid’s tweet.

Some social media users said Pakistan is far behind Germany in terms of technology, and thinking of launching a hydrogen train in Pakistan was nothing but building castles in the air.

“We need to change our lifestyle before introducing hydrogen-powered trains in Pakistan,” another social media user said.

But others welcomed the idea.

Ambassador Kobler is seen as a friend of Pakistan, often addressing issues related to the environment, civic sense, education and health issues.

He has often been seen washing his car with a bucket of water, as a means of promoting judicious use of water.

He has also been drawing the attention of the authorities and the public to the hazards of littering and illegal dumping of waste material.

While he has won praise by the general public for raising such issues, authorities have also taken prompt action on them.

In September this year, two officials of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) were suspended following such a tweet, when the ambassador posted a picture in which he was standing beside a heap of litter in Islamabad.