Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal along with Mos Manoj Sinha Inaugurates International Conference on GreenInitiatives & Railway Electrification in New Delhi.
New Delhi : Piyush Goyal on friday at International Conference on GreenInitiatives & Railway Electrification Said "Railway is working with renewed confidence to implement projects to serve the common Man of the country. Railways has prepared a Rs 35,000 crore plan to electrify its entire network in the next four years, a move that will help save Rs 10,500 crore a year in fuel bill".
The cost works out to be slightly more than Rs 1 crore per kilometre over parts of the 66,000-km network yet to be electrified. “We’ll be funding it through our own resources,” Piyush Goyal said on condition of anonymity. So far, nearly half of the railway tracks in the country have been electrified. But these tracks account for 55% of coaches and 65% of freight traffic at just about 35% of railways’ total fuel bill.
“We’re going for 100% electrification by 2021. This will reduce the energy bill from Rs 26,500 crore currently to about Rs 16,000 crore,” Railways ministry will involve state-run IRCON, RITES and PGCIL, along with several private companies to implement the 100% electrification plan, Piyush Goyal said at the conference.
He Further Stated, To further bring down its energy bill, railways also plans to start procuring electricity directly from producers instead of distribution companies.This will help the national transporter save an additional Rs 2,500 crore a year. Indian Railways consumes about 15.6 billion units of electricity every year and foots a power bill of Rs 9,500 crore. It pays almost Rs 17,000 crore a year in diesel bill. The railways would need nearly 5,000 more electric locomotives in the next five years to move all trains on electric traction. It has about 4,400 electric locomotives at present and is able to add only 250 every year.
