Indian Railways On Track To Go Green By 2030

New Delhi : In a bid to make itself carbon-free by 2030, the Indian Railways has initiated a number of major initiatives to mitigate global warming and combat climate change.

In a statement, a railways spokesperson said here that it has completed electrification of more than 40,000 route km (RKM), which is 63 per cent of the broad- gauge routes, in which 18,605 km electrification has been done during 2014-20.

It said that previously, only 3,835 km of electrification work was completed during 2009-14. The spokesperson said that the railways has fixed a target of electrification of 7,000 RKM for 2020-21.

“All routes on the broad-gauge network have been planned to be electrified by December 2023. Indian Railways is focusing on electrification of the last-mile connectivity and missing links. With this in mind, 365 km of major connectivity work has been commissioned during Covid-19 period,” he said.

The official said that the railways has also taken a number of initiatives to promote solar energy.

“The Indian Railways is working to harness the potential of 500 Mega Watt (MW) energy through rooftop Solar panels and till date, solar plants with 100-MW capacity have been commissioned on rooftops of various buildings including 900 rail stations,” he said.

“Solar plants with a combined capacity of 400 MW are under different stages of execution. Tenders are already awarded for 245 MW and the target for the completion of these plants is December 2022,” the official said.