Rly stations to have electric vehicle charging points

To promote electric vehicles, the Ministry of Surface Transport is in talks with the Ministry of Railways to set up e-vehicle charging points at railway stations across the country.

With the railways having 7000 stations spread across the country, if charging points came up there, it would not only benefit e-vehicle users, but also the railways as well, said an official.

To begin with, the railways is planning to set up e-vehicle charging units at New Delhi and Nizamuddin railway station parking areas in the national capital. For setting up charging points, railways will have an agreement with power distribution companies on revenue sharing basis for supplying electricity.

"Five fast charging DC points each, capable of charging 10 e-cars simultaneously, will be set up at New Delhi and Nizamuddin stations," an official said.

Based on the success of the project, the railways will work on expanding this to other places as well.

By setting up e-vehicle charging points, railways can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emission, the official said.

Lack of charging points is seen as the main hurdle for owning an electric vehicle in the country. The Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, who is aggressively pushing for e-vehicles, is already in talks with the petroleum ministry to set up charging stations at petrol pumps.

By encouraging electric vehicles, the NDA government is planning to reduce the burden on oil imports.

To enable booming of charging points, the Ministry of Power already clarified that there is no separate licence to set up charging points. Earlier, there was confusion over whether a separate licence is required for setting up charging stations.