Over 80 per cent of the 695 locomotives proposed to be produced in FY19 by the Railways will be electric locomotives. According to the Budget documents, 122 new locomotives will be diesel ones while 573 will be electric.
In a bid to go green and trim fuel costs, the Railways has been targeting higher electrification. As part of the proposal, 6,000 km of railway tracks will be electrified next fiscal, up from the proposed 4,000 km this year.
The fuel expenditure will not see a sharp change, with high-speed diesel continuing to account for a bigger pie of the total fuel bill. However, the incremental spend next year on the present year’s base will be lower for diesel (at ₹86 crore) than electricity (₹385 crore).
In terms of fuel bill, the Railways has budgeted ₹17,700 crore for diesel and ₹10,500 crore for electricity in FY19, against ₹17,614 crore and ₹10,115 crore respectively in FY18.
The Railways has set higher electricity loco production targets for the diesel locomotive factory in Varanasi. Till December 2017, DLW Varanasi had manufactured 240 engines against its production target of 315 for FY18, according to Diesel Locomotive Works data. It is targeting 25 electric locomotives in FY18, up from at least two in FY17.