NEW DELHI: Indian Railways has set a target of becoming a 'net-zero' emitter by 2030 by completing electrification of all railway tracks.
Sharing this with the media, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently said that all efforts are being taken by Indian Railways to achieve the target by exploring more and more usage-renewal energy and completing electrification work on a fast pace. "By undertaking a big exercise like this, we are moving towards net-zero for the railways by 2030 and hope to achieve it," he said.
Sources said that as on April 2021, nearly 48,881 km of tracks had been electrified and solar panels on the roofs of more than a thousand railway stations have been installed for renewable energy reducing carbon emission. In the freight segment, railways runs nearly 8,479 trains daily. Around 2,93,077 freight wagons are used in transporting goods by the railways.
"If electrification of all routes is completed by 2023-24, the railways will not only reduce carbon emission, but also save revenue running in thousands of cores which is spent for purchasing high speed diesel," a source said, adding that 76,608 passengers coaches are used by the railways on electrified and non-electrified routes combined.
Sources said that the railway has adopted a multi-pronged approach to go green in its entire services, right from replacing conventional lights to LED and installing solar energy panels to meet the energy requirement for non-track works also.
"If the railways achieves its target of electrifying its entire routes by 2024, then it would become the world's largest rail network with 100 per cent electrification. A plan has also been made to install 20 giga watt of solar energy for all purposes of the railways," source said.
A plant with a capacity to generate around 1.7 MW solar energy has been set up in Madhya Pradesh as the first solar energy plant directly supplying power to the overhead lines.