South Central Railway Chugs Along Sustainability Track

It has turned 13 railway stations ‘energy neutral’

- V Rishi Kumar

From making railway stations environment friendly to powering bore wells, transforming standalone buildings with fused solar roof systems to launching an afforestation and water conservation mission, the South Central Railway (SCR) zone has made rapid strides in its drive towards energy conservation and sustainability. Thanks to this, it has turned 13 railways stations ‘energy neutral.’

The SCR has taken the lead by being the first in Indian Railways to execute the concept of ‘energy neutral railway stations’ capable of meeting 100 per cent energy requirement by tapping natural solar power through solar photo-voltaic (SPV) panels in the stations’ buildings. And nearly all of these stations have Wi-Fi facility. Secunderabad station has a Platinum rating and Kacheguda a Gold rating from the Indian Green Building Council.

Says Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR, “The concept of ‘energy neutral stations’ is based on the principle of developing railway station buildings with total solar power tapping capabilities commensurate with the exact load requirements of those particular stations.”

This is done by installation of solar photo-voltaic panels on the rooftops which are integrated with on-grid or off-grid energy plants to derive power supply for the entire stations. The investment made on these solar systems is recovered within four years.