Indian Railways To Go ‘Completely Green’ By 2029

In a time where the resources are on the verge of exhaustion and the only hope is the renewable resources of energy, the

Indian government plans to transform the Indian Railways into ‘Green Railways’.

Indian Government has been tilting more towards the ‘greenways’ of operating the power systems. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced massive solar energy investments in 2015, pledging to surpass targets in the Paris climate agreement, which aimed to bring 175 GW of renewable energy online by 2022.

Thus, the biggest move in switching to the green and clean side by the Indian government is to make its largest power operating system, Indian Railways, into a green(renewable energy consuming)system. Last year, IROAF (Indian Railway Organization for Alternate Fuels) installed solar panels on some coaches of diesel-electric (DEMU) trains, and the result has been fascinating.

The Initiative by IROAF focused on installing solar panels on the coaches of the trains in order to generate units of electricity which would be used for the fans and lights inside the coaches.

GREEN RAILWAYS, HOW WILL IT BE DONE?

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce, presented the government’s proposal in the Rajya Sabha. The Railway is starting to set up solar panels on unused railway lands.

Another unique part of this plan is that not only the train coaches but also the important role for the railway tracks are present there too.

Electrification Of Tracks 

Indian Government also targets the electrification of the railway tracks by 2022, as the Railway Ministry stated that there can’t be a 100% green railway transport system without the electrification of the railway tracks and the absence of the use of bio-diesel. Goyal claims that the government is working on its way to achieving 100% electrification of tracks by 2022. According to records, in the year 2017-18, Indian Railways electrified 4,000 plus km of train tracks and in 2018-19 the distance went above 5200 km.

This Process will result in according to a rough estimate, after installation of roof-top solar panels on top of trains can help to save Rs 3 crore worth of diesel, per train over a period of 25 years.