Indian railways working to become green transporter by 2030

Indian Railways is working towards becoming a "Green Railway" by 2030 with net zero carbon emission.

The number of steps are being taken to achieve net zero carbon emission including electrification, improving energy efficiency of locomotives and trains and fixed installations, green certification for installations/stations, fitting bio-toilets in coaches and switching to renewable energy sources, said a statement from the railways.

The railways plans electrification of all routes on Broad Gauge by December 2023 and already completed electrification of more than 40,000 RKM (route km). As much as 365 km major connectivity work in electrification has been commissioned during even during the Covid-19 period.

Solar and wind energy to power the Railway electricity grid in a big way as 100 MW of solar plants have been commissioned on rooftops of various buildings including 900 stations and 400 MW are under different stages of execution.

The railway has 51,000 hectare of land potential of installing 20 GW land based solar plants. One project of 1.7 MW at Bina in collaboration with BHEL has already been installed, said a statement.

In wind energy sector, 103 MW wind-based power plants have already been commissioned; planned to set up 200 MW wind energy plants in next 2 years in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka.

The national transporter already completed 100 per cent LED illumination of buildings and stations.

A total of 69,000 coaches have been fitted with 2,44,000 bio-toilets, said a statement.