Lok Sabha Question No. 305 (STARRED), answered on 2018-08-08
Subject: Electrification of Broad Gauge Lines
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: RAKSHA NIKHIL KHADSE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.305 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.08.2018

## ELECTRIFICATION OF BROAD GAUGE LINES

*305. SHRIMATI RAKSHATAI KHADSE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether lowering the fuel cost burden has been the key focus area of the Railways and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  the  Government  proposes  gauge  conversion  and  100  per cent electrification of broad gauge railway lines by 2021-22 and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the  details  of  the  electrification  works  carried  out  during  the  last three years, zone-wise; and
- (d) the  length  of  broad  gauge  lines  yet  to  be  electrified  and  the  time frame fixed for the completion of the said work?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COAL, FINANCE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF  STARRED QUESTION NO. 305 BY SHRIMATI RAKSHATAI KHADSE TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK  SABHA  ON  08.08.2018  REGARDING  ELECTRIFICATION  OF  BROAD GAUGE LINES

(a) Yes, Madam. Lowering the fuel cost for Indian Railways is one of the key focus areas as it constitutes a significant portion of Indian Railways' ordinary working expenses. The annual fuel bill (diesel + electric) in  the year 2014-15 was ` 30,901.80 crore, which has come down to ` 29,507.58 crore in the year 2017-18, resulting in savings of ` 1,394.22 crore. This is despite  increase  in  originating  loading  in  freight  traffic  by  64.10  Million Tons (MT) and increase in numbers of passengers booked on originating basis by 53 Million in the same time period i.e. 2014-15 to 2017-18.

Various  measures  are  being  taken  to  reduce  the  fuel  costs,  both  for electric and diesel traction, the details of which are appended. The details are as follows:

- (i) The total electricity bill has come down from ` 12,315.80 crore in the year 2014-15 to ` 11,893.58 crore in the year 2017-18, a reduction of 3.43%. This is despite increase in electric traction due to increase in electrification  of  additional  sections  of  8411  route  kilometers  (RKM) and  increase  in  gross  ton  kilometers  (GTKM)  hauled  by  electric traction, in the same period.
- (ii) The  total  diesel  bill  has  come  down  from ` 18,586  crore  in  the  year 2014-15 to ` 17,614 crore in the year 2017-18, a reduction of 5.23%. Oil consumption  which  has  grown  by  23%  from  2009  to  2014  has  now decreased by 3.5% from 2014 to 2018.

- (iii) The above reduction in fuel cost is in spite of increase in traffic hauled (Gross Ton Kilometer or GTKM) which is reflected by improvement in energy  efficiency  indicators  of    Specific  Energy  Consumption  (SEC), Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC):

|                                    |   2014-15 |   2016-17 | % Improvement   |
|------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------------|
| SEC(kWh/1000 GTKM) -Goods          |      6.86 |      6.46 | 5.83%           |
| SEC(kWh/1000 GTKM)- Passenger      |     18.9  |     18.2  | 3.7%            |
| SFC (litres/1000 GTKM) - Goods     |      2.1  |      1.98 | 5.71%           |
| SFC (litres/1000 GTKM) - Passenger |      3.78 |      3.75 | 0.79%           |

Reduction in SEC, SFC is an indicator of fuel efficiency achieved.

- (b) 5182 kilometer (km) of Meter Gauge (MG) / Narrow Gauge (NG) exist on Indian Railways and the work has been taken up on 2901 km of MG/NG line  for  gauge  conversion.  The  completion  of  Gauge  conversion  projects require land acquisition and shifting of utilities etc. In view of the above, work of gauge conversion usually takes few years to complete. Therefore, Railway  is  also  exploring  option  of  starting  trains  of  better  speed  and comfort on these Meter Gauge and Narrow gauge lines as well.

Indian  Railways  has  planned  to  optimally  electrify  balance  Broad  Gauge (BG)  routes  of  Indian  Railways.  Balance  unsanctioned  work  of  nonelectrified routes of 13675 route kilometer has  been included in Budget 2018-19 and their electrification will be taken up, for optimal lengths, after requisite sanctions are obtained.

## (c)  During  last  three  years  (i.e.  2015-16  to  2017-18)  Zone-wise,  route kilometers (RKM) electrified are as under:-

| S. No.   | Zonal Railway      |   Route kilometers electrified |
|----------|--------------------|--------------------------------|
| 1        | Central            |                            399 |
| 2        | Eastern            |                            194 |
| 3        | East Central       |                            729 |
| 4        | East Coast         |                            727 |
| 5        | Northern           |                            750 |
| 6        | North Central      |                            394 |
| 7        | North Eastern      |                            348 |
| 8        | Northeast Frontier |                            123 |
| 9        | North Western      |                           1180 |
| 10       | Southern           |                            323 |
| 11       | South Central      |                           1033 |
| 12       | South Eastern      |                            118 |
| 13       | South East Central |                            482 |
| 14       | South Western      |                            146 |
| 15       | Western            |                            329 |
| 16       | West Central       |                            555 |
|          | TOTAL              |                           7830 |

- (d)  Indian  Railways  plans  to  electrify  balance  approximately  thirty  four thousand Broad Gauge (BG) Route kilometer (RKM) network, optimally, by 2021-22 for achieving seamless train operations on electric traction over entire BG network subject to requisite approvals.

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APPENDIX REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.  305  BY  SHRIMATI  RAKSHATAI  KHADSE  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK SABHA ON 08.08.2018 REGARDING ELECTRIFICATION OF BROAD GAUGE LINES

- (a) Some of the measures taken for energy conservation and reduction in Electric and Diesel fuel bill are as per the details below:
- (i) Energy Conservation Measures:
-  Chittranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) has completely switched over to production of energy efficient three-phase electric locos with regenerative  features.  Similar  action  is  being  taken  for  Electrical Multiple Units (EMU), Main line Electrical Multiple Units (MEMU).
-  Loco pilots  are  being  regularly  counseled  to  maximize  coasting  and use  of  regenerative  braking  feature.  Loco  pilots  are  counseled  to switch off blower of electric locos in case yard detention is more than 15  minutes.  Similarly,  diesel  locos  are  also  shut  down  if  expected detention is more than 30 minutes.
-  Trailing locomotive of multi units (MU) hauling empty freight trains are switched off to save energy.
-  Energy  consumption  on  electric  locomotives  is  regularly  monitored through  microprocessor  based  energy  meters  provided  in  all  the electric  locomotives  and  benchmarking  is  done  based  on  average energy consumption.
-  Monitoring the fuel consumption with respect to trip ration of diesel locomotive drivers.
-  Reducing  inventory  of  diesel  in  all  major  Railway  Consumer  Depots (RCD) from 15 days to 5 days.
-  Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) has been provided in 762 diesel locomotives to reduce fuel consumption when locomotive is idle.
-  Monitoring  of  idling  of  diesel  locomotives  is  being  done  through remote monitoring (REMMLOT).

-  There is huge saving in diesel fuel consumption of power cars with introduction  of  Head  On  Generation  (HOG)  system.  As  on  date,  80 trains have been converted to HOG system. There is saving to the tune of ` 136 crore per annum. On account of saving in diesel  fuel consumption  during  2018-19,  it  is  planned  to  convert  all  End  On Generation (EOG) rakes into HOG system.
-  Energy  audits  to  improve  energy  efficiency  of  railway  offices, stations, buildings and workshops.

## (ii) Power  Procurement  through  Open  Access  as  Deemed  Licensee  for reducing unit cost of electricity:

Indian  Railways  has  started  procuring  power,  as  Deemed  Licensee, through open access, as per provisions of The Electricity Act, 2003. This initiative  has  been  started  from  November,  2015  and  progressively different states which have been added for supply of open access power to Indian Railways are Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka, Delhi, Bihar, Damodar Valley Corporation  (DVC)  area  and  lastly  Uttar  Pradesh.  Presently,  1100  Mega Watt (MW), out of total requirement of 2000 MW is on open access, which has  led  to  average  per  unit  cost  of  power  on  Indian  Railways  coming down  from ` 6.73  per  unit  (2014-15)  to ` 6.06  per  unit  (2017-18),  an improvement of 10% approximately.

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