Indian Railways : Sustainable Development through Renewable Energy

Indian Railways : Sustainable Development through Renewable Energy

Question: Renewable energy is the way forward for sustainable development. Describe the recent steps taken by the Indian Railways to move towards renewable energy

- Indian Railways has signed 4 MoUs with various ministries for cooperation in the promotion of renewable energy within a time bound manner

MoU for Cooperation in Areas of Electricity and Energy Conservation between Ministry of Power and Indian Railways

- This MoU opens up electricity and energy efficiency projects for Indian Railways including feasibility study, operation and maintenance of projects in phased manner through optimal utilisation of resources

- Cooperation for developing and maintaining transmission lines in conjunction with Railway substation via PSUs

- Information sharing among Indian Railways officials

- Exchange of Scientific and Technological data in attaining energy conservation for Indian Railways

MoU between Indian Railways and Ministry of New & Renewable Energy

- Management of all stages of renewable energy projects

- Implementation of renewable energy projects at different Indian Railway units such as stations, yards, offices, residences, key installations

- Industrial and thermal use of renewable energy sources is encouraged

MoU between Indian Railways and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)

- Partnership for promoting energy conservation projects for attaining energy saving over Indian Railways and development of long term road map

- Energy conservation measures and use of such equipment in place of earlier systems

MOU between Railway Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL) and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)

- EESL will undertake energy audits of railway buildings and finalise technical specifications of numerous energy efficient equipment

- Procurement of newly installed equipment as per design specifications was also initiated by EESL

Facts and Stats

- Indian Railways is the world’s 4th largest rail network

- In fiscal 2012, Indian Railways had 12,335 passenger trains with over 30 million passengers daily. On the commercial front, 975.2 million tonnes of freight was transported through trains in the same year

Indian Railways has the following:

- Total route network of about 64,600 kilometres (of which 29.98 per cent is double/multi-track) spread across 7,146 stations.

- Operates more than 19,000 trains every day

- It has 239,321 wagons, 61,899 coaches, and 9,549 locomotives