Electrification, DFC, Bio Toilets! How Indian Railways plans to become eco-friendly network on mission mode

The national transporter aims to become cost-effective, efficient, punctual, and a modern carrier of passengers as well as goods.

Green Transportation Indian Railways: The Railway Ministry is working on a mission mode to make Indian Railways an eco-friendly mode of transport and serve the growing needs of a New India. The national transporter aims to become cost-effective, efficient, punctual, and a modern carrier of passengers as well as goods. In this regard, several steps are being taken by Indian Railways such as electrification, introduction of HOG system, installation of bio toilets and solar plants, setting up of DFCs, day to day water and paper conservation, etc. Following are some of the key environment-friendly measures taken by the Indian Railways network in its daily work:

Railway Electrification: Since 2014, railway electrification has increased nearly ten times. As on 1 May 2021, 71 per cent of the total Broad Gauge network has been electrified.

Head on Generation: Indian Railways has introduced the HOG system, which eliminates the need for separate power cars in trains. Thus, it reduces the need for pulling extra coaches and increases efficiency. So far, 1,280 trains have been equipped with HOG system.

Dedicated Freight Corridors: The national transporter is developing DFCs (EDFC and WDFC) as a low-carbon green transportation network with a long-term low-carbon roadmap.

Bio Toilets: As a part of the Modi government’s “Swachh Bharat Mission”, the national transporter has completed the installation of Bio Toilets on its entire fleet.

Solar Plants: About 114 MW of solar rooftop plants has been installed in over 1000 stations and 400 service buildings. Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways aims to be a Zero Net Carbon Emitter by the year 2030.

LED Lighting: During 2014-20, 100 per cent LED replacement has been done in all stations and all railway installations and buildings. Also by May 2020, all residential quarters have been converted to LED.

Shifting to Electric Locomotives: More electric locos are being utilized by Indian Railways for train operation. Also, an equivalent number of diesel locos are being withdrawn from service.

Eco-friendly Trains like Vande Bharat: In February 2021, orders for propulsion systems, for 44 rakes train sets have been issued and accordingly the production plan for 2021-22 has been issued for manufacturing of 32 Train sets coaches.

Bullet Trains: Besides the upcoming Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor (country’s first Bullet Train), seven more high-density passenger routes have been identified for DPR preparation – Delhi-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Varanasi, Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Nagpur, Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore, Varanasi-Patna-Kolkata, Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar.

Automatic Coach Washing Plant: At major depots, Indian Railways is installing Automatic Coach Washing Plants as they clean the exterior of coaches more efficiently and effectively and also reduce the direct water requirement by avoiding wastage.