All Central Railway stations to have LED lights by March ’18

Mumbai : The Central Railway is on way to install energy-saving LED lights at all its 438 stations by March 2018, and exploit solar and wind power in a big way to cut on electricity bills, an official said here on Saturday.

The CR and Energy Efficiency Services Ltd have signed an agreement wherein the latter will invest Rs 30 crore on the project, CR Spokesperson Sunil Udasi said.

While 250 stations have already switched over from the conventional to LED lighting, the remaining 188 will be provided LED lights by March next, he added.

As for EESL’s investments, the CR will repay it in instalments from savings accruing from lesser energy bills and retaining a part of the amount in five years, making it a win-win situation for both organisations.

The EESL will replace defective fittings and equipment, due to which annual energy savings are estimated to be 1.4 crore units, saving Rs 13.14 crore in the process. Prioritising energy conservation and reducing energy bills, besides adopting green sources of energy, the CR has already installed 28 solar power generation plants with a total capacity of 924 kWp.

Ten plants are in Mumbai, including at Matunga workshop, nine in Solapur, and three each in Pune, Nagpur, and Bhusawal in Maharashtra.  Additionally, wind-cum-solar energy plants have been set up at eight locations with a total capacity of 44 kWp.  Independent solar plants have come up at several small stations, level crossings and street lights at 953 locations with a total capacity of 49 kWp.

The plants at Sanpada’s EMU POH Shop and Matunga Workshop, both in Mumbai, have a capacity of 1,000 kWp each and are in various stages of implementation.  “Once completed, they are expected to generate around 25 lakh units per annum. Additionally, a total of 11.335 MWp plants at 118 locations of CR are expected to be completed by July 2018 in collaboration with the Railway Energy Management Company Ltd,” Udasi said.  This would generate 142 lakh units per annum and help further slash energy bills of CR considerably.

CR to run Nagpur winter specials

Central Railway will run six additional winter special trains from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) Mumbai to Nagpur, from Nagpur to Karmali and Karmali to CSMT to clear the extra rush of passengers during the winter season, it said on Saturday.

Issuing a statement, the Public Relations department of CR said that the coach composition of all specials will have six AC-2 Tier, eight AC-3 Tier and two General second class-cum-guard’s brake van coaches.

Giving the details of the special trains, the statement said that 01011 Special (one way) will have leave Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Mumbai December 22 and December 29 at 12.20 am and would arrive Nagpur at 2.20 pm same day. The 01196 special will leave Nagpur on December 22 and December 29 at 7.50 pm and would arrive at Karmali at 9.30 pm the next day.

The 01122 special will leave Karmali on December 23 and December 30 at 10.30 pm and arrive at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Mumbai at 10.30 am next day.

Bookings fothe special trains on special charges leaving Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Mumbai and Nagpur will open from Dec 18 and general second class coaches in the above trains will run as unreserved coaches, the statement concluded..