Railways to save Rs 41,000 crore by electrifying 24,000 km of tracks

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday, January 17 unveiled a plan for an integrated energy management system that will supposedly save Rs 41,000 crore over the next 10 years. Prabhu announced the plan, called “Mission 41k”, during the Roundtable Discussion with external stakeholders on energy initiatives taken by the Indian Railways.

This amount in savings will come from electrifying 24,000 kms of railway tracks over the next five years; thereby cutting down the expenditure on imported fuel. The plan also involves doubling up the annual rate of electrification from 2,000 km to 4,000 km over the next two years.

The plan has been in its pilot phase since 2015, and will now continue till 2025.

“Railways has already saved Rs 300 crore during 2015-16 and Rs 1,000 crore till November 2016. We hope this year the savings would be around Rs 1,800 crore through energy management,” the daily LiveMint reported a railway ministry official as saying.

During 2014-15, the Indian Railways incurred a total energy cost of Rs 31,220 crore. Of this, Rs 10,436 crore was spent on electric traction which carried about two thirds of the total freight and about 50 per cent of passenger traffic. The remaining Rs 18,586 crore was spent towards diesel traction which carried the balance one-third of freight and about 50 per cent of passenger traffic. Additionally, Rs 2,198 crore was spent on the supply of electricity to various offices, workshops and railway stations, etc.

Apart from electrification, the plan has also set a target of generating 1000 MW of solar power and 200 MW of wind energy.

“By procuring electricity through open access, the cost of electricity procurement comes down drastically which contributes 25% of the working expenses,” Chairman Railway Board, AK Mital, said.