Indian Railways going green
The Indian Railways, one of the biggest in the world is planning for complete electrification of its network to reduce carbon footprint. In doing so, it aims to reduce the cost on fuel. Fitting bio toilets in coaches is another green initiative but the success depends to a great extent on peoples’ participation as well. Starting from 2014, 18,605 km electrification work has been completed. Indian Railways has fixed a target of electrification of 7000 RKM for the year 2020-21.
Solar plants have been commissioned on roof-tops of 900 stations across India and works are underway to harness 500 MW energy through the roof top model. The Indian Railways is one of the largest property holders in the country, thanks to the establishment of the railway much before India gained independence. The Indian Railways has a whopping 51,000 hectare of land that has a capacity to install 20 GW land based solar plants.
Railway Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL), a Joint Venture Company of Indian Railways (49 % Equity) and RITES Limited (51 % Equity), has been mandated for proliferation of taking up land based project. One project of 1.7 MW at Bina (Madhya Pradesh) in collaboration with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has already been installed and is presently under extensive testing. This is first of its kind of solar project in the world. Indian Railways has also planned to set up 200 MW wind energy plants in next 2 years in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka.
Another initiative under the green sphere is 100 per cent LED illumination of buildings and stations. Indian Railways has also acquired Green Certification from CIII to 7 Production Units (PUs), 39 Workshops, 6 Diesel sheds and 1 Stores depot. 14 Railway Stations and 21 other buildings/ campuses have also been Green certified. Other than this 215 Stations have been certified with Environment Management System (EMS)/ISO 14001.
Total 505 pairs of trains have been converted to Head on Generation(HOG), unleashing approx 70-million-liter diesel/ Rs 450 crore per annum potential of saving. Energy Efficiency Studies of all 8 Production Units & 12 workshops have been completed under MOU with CII resulting in 15% improvement in energy efficiency. In the field of Green Initiatives, a total of 69,000 coaches have been fitted with more than 2,44,000 bio-toilets in Indian Railways.
- Electrification of all routes on Broad Gauge by December 2023
- Solar and wind energy to power the Railway electricity grid in a big way
- Indian Railways has completed electrification of more than 40,000 RKM (63% of BG routes)
- 18,605 km electrification work has been done during 2014-20 compare to 3,835 km in 2009-14
- 365 km major connectivity work has been commissioned during even during COVID period
- 100 MW of Solar plants have been commissioned on roof-tops of various buildings including 900 stations; 400 MW are under different stages of execution
- Indian Railway has 51,000 hectare of land potential of installing 20 GW land based solar plants
- One project of 1.7 MW at Bina in collaboration with BHEL has already been installed
- In the Wind Energy sector, 103 MW wind-based power plants have already been commissioned; planned to set up 200 MW wind energy plants in next 2 years in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka
- 100 per cent LED illumination of buildings and stations
- Total 505 pairs of trains have been converted to HOG, unleashing approx 70 million liter diesel/ Rs 450 crore per annum potential of saving
- A total of 69,000 coaches have been fitted with 2, 44,000 bio-toilets in Indian Railways
