UNEP, Central Railway and Tata Power to set up EV charging points in Mumbai
Central Railway, Mumbai, in association with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Tata Power has announced the launch of a novel green initiative to promote e-mobility in Mumbai. As a part of this initiative, charging points for electrical vehicles will be made available at all important railway stations in the island city, the suburbs and adjoining Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
The charging points will cover a wide geographical area and offer a seamless experience for electric vehicle (EV) owners to charge their vehicles through a pay-per-use model. The collaborative venture aims to boost the overall e-mobility sector and encourage green mobility around railway stations, which are transport modal hubs.
In the first phase, contracts have already been awarded for railway stations including Thane, Dadar, Parel and Byculla. For the second phase, tenders have been floated for the next set of stations including Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT)), Bhandup, Panvel and Kalyan. Areas at the entry-exit points of railway stations with parking facilities have been earmarked for the charging stations as per availability.
“A transition to e-mobility is one of the best solutions for combatting the challenges of air pollution and the climate crises with electrification being a flexible, energy efficient and sustainable way to decarbonize the economy,” said Atul Bagai, Head of UNEP’s India Office. “India is taking a step in the right direction towards achieving a cleaner transport sector through this tri-party initiative. We are proud to be working closely with Central Railway and Tata Power to leverage cleaner energy sources and nudge India towards adopting them more widely.”
Robin Kalia, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of the Central Railway of Mumbai, said, “An EV charging station has been installed at Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CMT) in partnership with TATA Power and UNEP. We plan to extrapolate this model for installing EV charging stations at all major Railway Stations under Mumbai division.
