Lok Sabha Question No. 447 (STARRED), answered on 2019-07-24
Subject: Environment Friendly Technology
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Ramdas Chandrabhanji Tadas, Ravi Kishan Shukla

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 447 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2019

## ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGY

- †*447. SHRI RAMDAS C. TADAS: SHRI RAVI KISHAN:
- Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:
- (a) whether Railways is one of the largest consumers of energy in the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Railways  to  use  environment friendly technologies to expand its network judiciously; and
- (c) the  quantum  of  solar  energy  being  utilised  by  the  Railways  at present?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

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

*****

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 447 BY SHRI RAMDAS C. TADAS AND SHRI RAVI  KISHAN  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  24.07.2019 REGARDING ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGY

- (a) Yes,  Sir.  Indian  Railways  (IR)  consumes  about  1.27%  of  total electricity  consumption  of  the  country  and  3%  of  High  Speed  Diesel (HSD)  oil  for  its  energy  requirements.  In  2018-19,  Indian  Railways consumed about 20.44 Billion units of electricity and 3.1 Billion Litres of HSD oil for its energy requirement.
- (b) IR  is  taking  various  environmental  friendly/energy  efficiency measures to reduce the carbon footprint and protect the environment. Some of the measures are listed below:
- i) Railway  Electrification  of  tracks  -  IR  has  decided  to  electrify 100%  of  its  Broad  Gauge  Rail  routes  in  mission  mode,  as  a green mode of transport.
- ii) Use of Renewable Energy - IR has planned to source about 1000 Mega Watt (MW) Solar Power and 200 MW of Wind Power.
- iii) Various  Energy  efficiency  measures  taken  up  by  IR,  which include the following:
-  In 2016, a policy decision was taken for allocating 1% cost in all  sanctioned  works  for  execution  of  environment  related works.
-  Use of energy efficient 3-Phase technology with regenerative features for electric locomotives, Mainline Electrical Multiple Units (MEMUs), Electrical Multiple Units (EMUs), Train sets.
- Introduction of Head On Generation (HOG) system in trains to
-  reduce diesel fuel consumption in power cars.

-  Provision of energy  efficient Light Emitting Diode  (LED) lighting in all Railway installations including Railway stations, service buildings, Residential quarters and coaches for reduction in electricity consumption. 100% Railway stations, Service buildings have already been provided with LED lights and  about  74%  of  residential  quarters  have  been  provided with 100% LED lights.
- IR has been made as designated consumer as part of Perform, Achieve  and  Trade  (PAT),  Cycle-II  by  Bureau  of  Energy Efficiency  (BEE)  for  improving  energy  efficiency  in  16  Zonal
-  Railways and 6 Production Units.
-  Regular energy audits at consumption points.
- 
- Emphasis on use of 5 Star rated electrical equipments.
-  Regular  training  of  Locomotive  pilots  for  use  of  coasting, regenerative  braking  features  and  switching  off  blowers  of electric locos in case yard detention is more than 50 minutes. Similarly, diesel locos are also shut down  if  expected detention  is  more  than  30  minutes  and  thereby  resulting  in reduction of Green House Gases (GHG) emissions.
-  Trailing  locomotive  of  multiple  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.
-  Auxiliary  Power  Unit  (APU)  has  been  provided  in  986  diesel locomotives to reduce fuel consumption when locomotive is idle.

- Monitoring  of  idling  of  diesel  locomotives  is  being  done through Remote Monitoring and Management of Locomotives and Trains (called as REMMLOT). 2606 locomotives at present
-  are equipped with REMMLOT.
-  Use  of  5%  bio-diesel  in  traction  fuel-  Blending  of  bio-diesel with  High  Speed  Diesel  (HSD),  to  the  extent  of    5%  to  save HSD. Following additional steps taken for reduction in consumption of HSD:-
-  Over  aged  WDM2  vintage  diesel  locomotives  are  being stabled for condemnation.
-  Close  Circuit  Television  (CCTV)  is  being  installed  at  all Railway Consumer Depots (RCDs).
- 20%  Compressed  Natural  Gas  (CNG)  substitution  in  DEMUsCNG usage emits less Green House Gases (GHG) than liquid fuels.  Indian  Railways  have  the  distinction  of  being  the  only Railway  in  the  world  to  be  using  CNG  run  power  cars  for passenger transportation. IR has started conversion of Diesel Electrical Multiple Unit (DEMU) Driving Power Car (DPC) into dual fuel mode DEMU/DPC with 20% CNG as a substitution for diesel  (HSD).  25  numbers  of  DPCs  have  been  converted  and
-  are under operation.
- Water Management - Water Policy of IR was issued in March 2017. Further, water audits at major consumption centres as well as proliferation of water recycling plants and rain water
-  harvesting systems are also undertaken.

-  To  avoid  dropping  of  night  soil  on  platform  lines  and  on tracks, pace of installation of environment friendly bio-toilets in passenger coaches has been increased. In last three years, more than 1,60,000 bio-toilets have been installed in around 42,900 coaches. So far, nearly 2,10,437 bio-toilets have been installed in around 58,379 coaches.
-  Rail Wheel Factory, Yelahanka has started using Natural Gas for  operation  of  its  furnaces.  Two  more  Railway  Workshops have  switched  over  to  Compressed  Natural  Gas  (CNG)  in place of industrial gases for metal cutting.
- (c) At present, Indian Railways utilizes about 88 Mega Watt (MW) of Solar  Power.    Further,  works  of  installing  solar  plants  with  total capacity of generation as 84 MW are in progress and tenders of works having generating capacity of 93 MW are in progress.

*****