Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu unveiled Mission 41k during the Roundtable Discussion with External Stakeholders on Energy Initiatives of Indian Railways.
Ministry of Railways has come up with Mission 41k to save Rs. 41000 crore in the next decade in Railways’ energy costs.
All electrification works done in the last decade would be doubled and this would change the energy mix of Indian Railways. Indian Railways has set a target of 1000 MW of solar power and 200 MW of wind energy.
At present 70% traffic runs on electric traction. In next 6 -7 years target has been set to run 90% of the traffic on electric traction. By procuring electricity through open access, the cost of electricity procurement comes down drastically which contributes 25% of the working expenses.
Ministry of Railways has launched Mission Raftaar to increase the average speed of movement by 5 kmph every year.
Another important Mission for Indian Railways is the establishment of High hp Locomotive manufacturing plants at Madhepura and Marhaura.
Railways have about 50 % tracks electrified as of now which greatly contributes in keeping the energy bill low & reducing the carbon footprint. Ministry of Railways want to take electrification to 90% in next few years through our Mission Electrification with an aim to reduce dependence on imported fuel, change energy mix, and rationalize the cost of energy for Railways. As part of this, it has embarked upon electrification of additional 24,000 Rkm, i.e., about 90% of Railway BG routes in next 5 years by taking the present rate of electrification from 2000 Rkm to 4000 Rkm in next 2 years.
To achieve this, Ministry of Railways have planned to incorporate EPC Mode of Contracts for Railway Electrification Projects, Mechanise the execution through Self Propelled Wiring Trains etc. This will increase the mobility, reduce energy bill to improve viability of Railways and also reduce carbon footprint. Ministry of Railways wish to develop partnership, improve our delivery of electrification projects by having suggestions from industry.
Background:
India’s economy has seen unprecedented growth during the last decade with average growth of 7–8% per annum in last few years. With economic growth, the passenger and freight traffic on the Indian Railways is expected to grow from 3,635 billion passenger kilometres and 961 billion tonne kilometres respectively in 2005 to 19,427 billion passenger kilometres and 6,677 billion tonne kilometres respectively by 2030 i.e., an increase of more than 6 folds.
Rail as a mode of transport needs to enhance its capacity. The saturation of capacity of the Indian Railways on the Golden Quadrilateral has weighed heavily on the mind of Indian policymakers while taking the decision to construct dedicated freight corridors (Dedicated Freight Corridor).
The construction of these Dedicated Freight Corridors would enable the Indian Railways to meet the growing demand for freight transport and induce a modal shift of freight traffic from road to rail. Since both corridors are to have more energy efficient locos powered by electric traction, the completion of Dedicated Freight Corridor project would lead to higher operational efficiency, resulting in substantial energy saving and significant reduction of GHG emissions.
Railway has plans to change its energy mix and shall be using Green Energy. Railway is going to install solar and wind plants for using green energy on its system. To change energy mix towards Green energy in a phased manner, Ministry of Railways plan to set up 1000 MW solar and about 200 MW wind plants.
