Lok Sabha Question No. 1552 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-28
Subject: Green Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Sukanta Majumdar, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Prataprao  Jadhav, Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh, Bhola Singh, Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik, Shrirang Appa Barne, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Sudheer Gupta, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Raja Amareshwara Naik, Jayanta Kumar Roy, Bidyut Baran Mahato

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1552 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.07.2021

## GREEN RAILWAYS

1552. DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR:

SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJU BHAIYA):

SHRI BHOLA SINGH:

SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO:

SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to State:

- (a) whether Railways has taken various initiatives to transform itself into 'Green Railways' and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether Railways has plans to utilise its unused vacant land parcels for setting up Solar Plants for its traction power requirement and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  Railways  has  set  a  target  of  becoming  'Net  Zero  Carbon Emission' by 2030 and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether Railways proposes to make assessment and rating of major Railway Workshops and Production Units as 'Green Industrial Units' and if so, the details thereof;

- (e)  whether  Railway Stations have been certified for implementation of Environment Management System and if so, the details thereof and the other steps being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a)  to  (c):  Yes,  Sir.    Indian  Railways (IR) has planned to utilize renewable energy  as  a  part  of  its  plan  to  reduce  its  energy  consumption  through conventional sources. As a part of this, about 123 Mega Watt (MW) of solar plants  (both  on  Rooftops  and  on  land)  and  about  103  MW  of  Wind  power plants  have  already  been  commissioned  (as  on  30.06.2021)  over  IR. Further, 53 passenger coaches have also been fitted with solar panels.

In addition to above, IR has also taken a number of initiatives to transform itself into 'Green Railways', as follows:

- i). Use of energy efficient technologies like completely switching over of production  of  locomotives  to  energy  efficient  three-phase  electric locomotives  with  regenerative  features,  switching  off  of  trailing  loco carrying  light  load,  monitoring  of  energy  consumption  of  locomotives through microprocessor based energy meters, use of head on generation  (HOG)  technology  instead  of  Diesel  generators  for  feeding coaches for lighting and air conditioning load.
- ii). Conversion of 25 number of Diesel Power cars of diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMU) into dual fuel mode, substituting diesel with Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
- iii).
- iv).
- Water conservation and management.
- Afforestation.
- v). Fitment of Bio toilets in coaches.

vi). Green certification and waste management.

Further, IR has decided to utilize its unused vacant Land parcels for setting up  of  Land  Based  Solar  Plants  in  phased  manner  as  per  feasibility  for meeting  its  power  requirement  and  thereby  becoming  a  'Green  mode  of transportation' and fulfilling its goal of 'Net Zero Carbon Emission' by 2030. Following actions have, inter-alia, been taken:

- i). Pilot  project of 2  MW land based solar plant at Diwana (Haryana) has been commissioned.
- ii). Pilot  project  of  1.7  MW  land  based  solar  plant  at  Bina  (Madhya Pradesh) has been commissioned.
- iii). 400 MW of solar power has been tied up with Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL).
- iv). For further proliferation of solar plants on vacant unused Railway land, initially  tenders  for  about  1.4  Giga  Watt  (GW)  capacity  have  already been invited.
- (d)  Assessment and rating of major workshops and production units of IR as Green Industrial Units has been started with 'GreenCo' certification of two  workshops  and  one  Production  Unit  in  2016-17.  At  present,  39 Workshops,  7  Production  Units,  8  loco  sheds  and  one  store  depot  have been 'GreenCo' certified.
- (e)  At  present,  about  630  Railway  Stations  have  been  certified  with  ISO: 14001 certification for implementation of Environment Management System (EMS).  In  addition,  19  more  Railway  stations  have  also  been  certified  as Green Railway Stations over IR.

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