CHENNAI: To tide over the pinch of surging fuel prices,
Southern Railway has implemented a technology to draw power from
overhead lines for electrical appliances in
Linke Hoffman Busche (
LHB)
coaches. Incorporated in 23 rakes, this has resulted in savings of at least Rs 1 crore per month on fuel alone, say officials in the zonal railway.
LHB coaches, which
Indian Railways is now introducing en masse, are safer than the traditional coaches designed by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) due to various features. They are also lighter and hence useful for semi-high speed trains. However, unlike the ICF coaches, the LHB coaches don’t have an alternator which generates electricity to power the electrical appliances as the train moves.
Hence, every LHB rake has one or two power cars at the end of every train where the electricity meant for coaches is produced in a diesel generator, known in railway parlance as End on Generation (EOG). For a 15-hour journey, 1800 litres of diesel is burnt. An air-conditioned coach consumes 30-40 litres of diesel per hour, top officials said.
To go greener and as electricity is cheaper, Indian Railways started modifying electric engines to use electricity from overhead lines for running appliances in LHB coaches. This is known as Head-On-Generation (HOG) in railway parlance.
“This has now been implemented in 23 rakes resulting in savings of at least Rs 1 crore per month,” said a senior official.
As per railway calculations, the power car needs 40 litres of diesel per hour per non-AC coach. For an air-conditioned coach, it needs 65-70 litres per hour.
One litre of diesel gives around three units of electricity. So a non-AC coach uses around 120 units of electricity per hour. In terms of diesel
expenditure, this costs Rs 2800 per hour at the rate of Rs 70 per litre.
Southern Railway gets electricity from Tangedco at the rate of around Rs 7 per unit. So in a non-AC coach, the expenditure on electricity is Rs 840 per hour, which is far cheaper than using diesel in the power car.
“However, the disadvantage is that we can’t eliminate power cars as not all sections are electrified. But Indian Railways is going for 100% electrification and if HOG is brought in all electric locos, there will be significant savings,” an official said.
Apart from the Rs 1 crore monthly savings on fuel costs, there are also huge savings on maintenance of diesel generators, which is a costly affair, said officials.