Lok Sabha Question No. 2943 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-20
Subject: Green Railway
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Pritam Gopinath Munde

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2943 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.12.2023

## GREEN RAILWAY

2943. SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE: SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU: DR. PRITAM GOPINATHRAO MUNDE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to State:

- (a) whether the Indian Railways is working steadily towards achieving net zero Carbon Emissions by 2030 to become the world's largest Green Railway;
- (b) if  so,  whether  the  Union  Government  has  embarked  upon  an ambitious plan of electrification of its complete Broad-Gauge network;
- (c) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  achievement  made  in  this regard, zone-wise;
- (d)  the  details  of  the  target  fixed  for  rail  routes  electrification  for  the current financial year;
- (e)  the  details  of  the  rail  routes  electrified  till  30  November,  2023, particularly in Maharashtra;
- (f)  whether the Union Government has proposed to develop dedicated freight corridors with a long-term low carbon roadmap;
- (g) if so, the details thereof; and
- (h)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Union  Government  to  adopt  more  energy efficient and carbon-friendly technologies, processes and practices?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (h) OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  2943  BY  SHRI  RAHUL  RAMESH  SHEWALE, SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU AND DR. PRITAM GOPINATHRAO MUNDE TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  20.12.2023  REGARDING  GREEN RAILWAY

(a): Indian Railway has set a target of becoming Net Zero Carbon Emitter by 2030.

(b) and (c): Broad Gauge (BG) network of 60,814 km have been electrified upto November'2023. Of this, 39,013 km has been electrified during the period April'2014 to November' 2023, as against 5188 km during 2004-14. Zone wise details of electrified network are as under:

|   SN | ZONAL RAILWAYS             | Electrified as on 30.11.2023 (in RKM)   |
|------|----------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
|    1 | CENTRAL RAILWAY            | 3,888                                   |
|    2 | EAST COAST RAILWAY         | 2,954                                   |
|    3 | EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY       | 4,025                                   |
|    4 | EASTERN RAILWAY            | 2,775                                   |
|    5 | NORTH CENTRAL RAILWAY      | 3,257                                   |
|    6 | NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY      | 3,195                                   |
|    7 | NORTHEAST FRONTIER RAILWAY | 2,004                                   |
|    8 | NORTHERN RAILWAY           | 6,799                                   |
|    9 | NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY      | 4,642                                   |
|   10 | SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAY      | 5,988                                   |
|   11 | SOUTH EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY | 2,348                                   |
|   12 | SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY      | 2,753                                   |
|   13 | SOUTHERN RAILWAY           | 4,612                                   |
|   14 | SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY      | 2,899                                   |
|   15 | WEST CENTRAL RAILWAY       | 3,067                                   |
|   16 | WESTERN RAILWAY            | 4,827                                   |
|   17 | KONKAN RAILWAY             | 738                                     |
|   18 | METRO RAILWAY              | 43                                      |

Contd.2/..

(d) and (e): 2,002 km of BG network has been electrified during 2023-24 upto November' 2023, including 146 km BG network falling in the State of Maharashtra. Electrification of balance BG routes has been taken up.

(f) and (g): The Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs)  Projects are expected to  help  in  reducing  the  carbon  emissions  as  DFC  operation  will  bring-in efficiency  in  freight  operation  in  the  country  by  higher  throughput  per wagon, lower energy consumption and reduction in transit time. Eastern DFC,  which  has  been  completed  and  Western  DFC,  which  is  currently under  implementation  are  estimated  to  reduce  emissions  by  about  457 million ton CO2 over a 30 year period.

(h): Indian Railways (IR) is committed to take steps for energy conservation  and  to  increase  energy  efficiency.IR  has  also  issued  a comprehensive policy for adoption of energy efficiency measures in nontraction applications which, inter-alia, covers sustainable buildings; cloud based data monitoring and management portal; and energy efficiency in equipment  and  appliances.  The  policy  also  provides  for  procurement  of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) 5 star rated equipment.

Some of the measures taken by IR for energy conservation are as follows:

- (i) Railways  has  introduced  Insulated-Gate  Bipolar  Transistor  (IGBT) based  3-phase  propulsion  system  with  regenerative  braking  in Electrical  Multiple  Unit  (EMU)  trains,  Mainline  Electrical  Multiple Unit  (MEMU),  Kolkata  Metro  rakes  and  Vande  Bharat  Trains  to conserve energy during the operations.
- (ii) Production  Units  have  completely  switched  over  to  production  of energy efficient three-phase electric locomotives with regenerative braking features.
- (iii) Provision  of  energy  efficient  Light  Emitting  Diode  (LED)  lighting  in Railway  installations  including  Railway  stations,  service  buildings, coaches, EMUs/MEMUs for reduction in electricity consumption.

- (iv) Use of energy efficient Brushless Direct Current (BLDC) motor fans in coaches and buildings.
- (v) Conversion of End  on Generation (EOG) trains into  Head  On Generation (HOG) system in trains to reduce diesel fuel consumption in power cars as well as noise and air pollution.
- (vi)
- Regular energy audits at consumption points.
- (vii) Regular counseling of Loco pilots for use of coasting, regenerative braking features and switching off blowers of electric locos in case yard detention is more than 15 minutes to save energy.
- (viii)  Locomotive pilots are trained during their initial training as well as during  promotional  training  and  refresher  courses  for  saving  of energy/fuel to achieve better energy/fuel efficiency by good driving technique and better road learning.
- (ix) Guidelines have been issued for provision of energy saving mode on three phase locomotives wherein power supply to Oil Cooling Blower (OCB),  Traction  Motor  Blower  (TMB)  and  Scavenge  Traction  Motor Blower (ScTMB) will be switched off through software logic.
- (x) Trailing  locomotives  of  Multi  Units  (MU)  hauling  light  loads  are switched off to save energy.
- (xi) Provision  of  750V  external  power  supply  at  washing/sick  lines  for maintenance and testing of LHB coaches.
- (xii) IR  has  been  made  as  designated  consumer  as  part  of  Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)  for improving energy efficiency.
- (xiii)  Provision  of  Automatic  Power  Factor  Controller  panels  in  High Tension/Low Tension panels.
- (xiv)  Use of micro-controller based automatic platform lighting management  system  at  stations  as  per  train  services/passenger requirements.
- (xv) Use  of  capacitor  banks  in  traction  sub-stations  to  maintain  near unity power factor for energy saving.

Contd.4/..

- (xvi)  Use of timer on high mast tower lightings/street lighting/circulating area of Railway stations.

(xvii) Replacement of conventional geysers with solar geysers.

*****