With a goal of transforming Indian Railways into “Green Railways”, complete electrification of Railway network has been approved by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) which will reduce its carbon footprint and will also improve its finances through reduction in fuel cost.As part of its obligations & commitment to reduce carbon footprints, Indian Railways is taking several initiatives in the field of Green Energy to achieve the same. In line with this, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of Railways, Government of India and Department for International Development (DFID), United Kingdom on 2nd December, 2019 for collaboration on energy and sustainability. The MoU was signed in the presence of Mr. Rajesh Tiwari, Member (Traction), Railway Board by Mr. Rajesh Kumar Jain, Executive Director/Electrical Engineering (Development), Indian Railways and by Mr. Gavin McGillivray, Head, DFID-India.Through Power Sector Reform (PSR) programme, the MoU with DFID envisages to include co-operation for Energy Efficiency & Energy Self Sufficiency for Indian Railways. The MoU will broadly cover:
Energy planning for Indian Railways in line with Governments’ policies and regulations as applicable from time to time including 100% greener sources of electricity supply through
Renewable energy planning and deployment
Off shore wind and solar energy
Energy storage and new energy technologies
Off-grid renewable energy services
Promoting energy sustainability initiatives like
Adopting energy efficiency practices
Enabling Fuel efficiency
Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure deployment
Battery operated Shunting Locomotives
Capacity development like training programmes, industrial visits, field visits etc.
The collaboration of Indian Railways with DFID, United Kingdom will go a long way in ensuring self-sufficiency and efficiency in terms of energy and greener Indian Railways.