Indian Railways is all set to transform into a green mode of transport by using solar energy to power its network! With the national transporter taking various eco-friendly steps already to benefit the environment, Piyush Goyal chaired Railway Ministry now plans to use its surplus land in order to generate 20 GW of renewable energy from the solar or wind equipment, set up under ‘Made in India’ initiative to power the Indian Railways network. Recently, the Railway Minister was quoted in a PTI report saying that in the coming years, the Indian Railways network will be a 100 per cent electricity-driven railway network which would make it the world’s largest such rail network.
According to the Railway Minister, the national transporter plans to utilize a lot of railways’ surplus land as well as the land along the railway tracks to generate 20 GW (gigawatts) of renewable power. Goyal further said that the newly established ‘Made in India’ solar or wind equipment is being used to power Indian Railways 20 GW production capacity of renewable energy and enough KW (kilowatt) hours to power the entire railway network of the country. The Railway Minister was addressing ‘Powering Livelihoods: Transforming India’s Rural Economy with Clean Energy Solutions’- a CEEW India’s programme. The national transporter may either need to expand the storage of battery or other forms of storage for this, Goyal added.
Last month, to directly power Indian Railways Overhead Line, a solar power plant was set up in Bina, Madhya Pradesh in a one-of-a-kind instance. On this, Vinod Kumar Yadav- the Chairman of the Railway Board had said that for the first time in the world, such a unique plant has been set up. This project is considered to be unique as the power generated by the solar plant will be fed to the overhead power lines directly, in order to power the traction system of the electric locomotives to run Indian Railways’ trains.