R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, OCT 4
Stating that it has managed to save carbon-dioxide emission by 5.88 lakh tons leading to a saving of Rs 377 crore as a result of various steps taken to attain net zero emission target set by Indian Railways by 2030, Southern Railway on Friday said it has decided to promote energy conservation measures and use of alternative sources of energy in the current financial year.
As part of its environment friendly measures it will focus on the installation of solar plants to harness clean energy, usage of LED lights to cut down on regular electricity consumption and the introduction of Head On Generation (HOG) system in train operations.
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“Energy savings by 570 million units in traction category and 18 million units in non-traction were achieved during 2020-21 as against 2019-20. This has offset carbon-dioxide emission by 5.88 lakh metric tonne and notional savings of Rs 377 crore,” Southern Railway said.
Green Building certificates
Coimbatore railway station has contributed to the huge energy savings and has obtained the Indian Green Building Council Platinum rating while the Chennai Central Railway station received the Green-CO certificate, a press release said.
Efficient loco sheds
The Tondiarpet and Ernakulam Diesel loco sheds and Erode, Arakkonam and Royapuram electric loco sheds have received the ISO 50001 certification.
Railway Electrification
Under mission electrification of the routes, Southern Railway said it has added 370 track kilometres during 2020-21 and has enabled introduction of electric loco run passenger and goods trains, reduction of diesel automotive and improved operational efficiency.
“The total holding of electric locomotives has increased to 568 units and diesel locomotives have reduced to 120 thereby saving huge quantities of diesel and efficient running of trains”, the release said.
3-Phase EMUs
Southern Railway said it introduced three-phase EMUs (electric multiple unit) in Chennai suburban and MEMUs (mainline electric multiple unit) in other remote areas in place of conventional trains towards energy conservation.
“LED lights and BLDC fans (brushless direct current) fans are used in these trains as well as in conventional design coaches resulting in 29 percent of energy saving in EMU and 23 percent in MEMUs”.
Online Monitoring
Fuel savings was done online by shutting down the locomotives during “idle hours” saving Rs 47 crore in 2020-21 and reduction in number of diesel filling depots and diesel locomotives from 340 to 120 units has further reduced consumption of diesel thereby saving Rs 371 crore.
Tapping of renewable energy sources
Southern Railway said it has installed 4.9MWp of solar energy and the total solar energy generated from the installation of solar plants was 12 million units leading to savings of Rs 5 crore. Windmill plants with an installed capacity of 10.5 MW has been set up which has resulted in savings of Rs 13 crore by generating 26 million units.
“Southern Railway was working towards increasing the capacity of the solar plants and has planned for installation of 109 MWp solar plants in a 288 acre land..”, the release said.
On the electrification of routes, Southern Railway said it expects to complete the electrification process by 2023 and would connect all routes of Southern Railway to all parts of the country eliminating delay in train operation due to change of locomotives offering convenience to passengers.
Modern Rolling Stock
In coaching front, conventional design rakes have been replaced by 77 rakes of energy efficient LHB design. 37 pairs out of these rakes are running on HOG (Head on generation) which eliminates operation of Diesel generators in power car thereby saving huge amount of Diesel and eliminating air pollution. HOG technology eliminated the need for power car as the energy need of the train lighting and fans are met through Over head traction fed through locomotives. During 2021-22 , till August , 22.65 lakh litre diesel has been saved, equivalent to Rs 38 crore.
