Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Takes Steps towards a Greener Environment

GUWAHATI: The Indian Railways (IR) is working in mission mode to become the largest Green Railways in the world and is moving towards becoming a 'net zero carbon emitter' before 2030. In this regard, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is also taking various environment protection initiatives.

Northeast Frontier Railway's Initiative for Greener Railways

The following measures showcase how Railways have adopted Environment Conservation in their daily work:

Solar Energy Generation: Indian Railways is committed to contributing towards the improvement of the environment. IR has installed about 114 MW of solar rooftop plants in over 1,000 stations and 400 service buildings. IR plans to be a Zero Net Carbon Emitter by 2030. So far, a total capacity of 3893.233 KWp Solar Power Plants have been installed & commissioned on the Roof-tops of various buildings over NFR.

Head on Generation (HOG): IR is also introducing a Head on Generation (HOG) system, whereby electrical power is fed to the coaches directly from the Over Head Equipment (OHE) through the Locomotive. It eliminates the need for separate power cars in trains and thus reduces the need for pulling extra coaches, increases efficiency and avoids the burning of fossil fuel in power cars. Over 1,120 trains have already been converted to HOG.

Railway Electrification: With a view to transform Indian Railways into "Green Railways" and to capture the economic benefits of electric traction in an accelerated manner, Railways has planned to electrify balanced Broad Gauge (BG) routes by December 2023 to achieve 100% electrification of BG routes.

LED lighting: 100% LED replacement done in all Railway stations (more than 8,000) and all Railway installations & buildings (more than 20,000) during 2014-20. All residential quarters (about 5 lakhs quarters) have also been converted to LED by May; 2020 to save electricity.

Plastic Bottle Crushing Machine: To give a further push to these environmentally friendly initiatives of eco-friendly disposal of plastic waste, a comprehensive policy on the installation of plastic bottle crushing machines (PBCM) at stations was introduced on 27 September 2019. In NFR, plastic bottle crushing machines have been installed at 20 Stations across NFR including the major stations at Tinsukia, Kamakhya and Guwahati.

Quick Watering System: To facilitate full watering of complete rakes within 8-10 minutes, the Quick Watering System has already been installed in 71 stations out of 158 identified locations over IR to ensure potable water in coaches, which also eliminates wastage of water due to overflowing. In NFR, Quick Watering System has been installed at Guwahati, New Jalpaiguri, Lumding, Alipurduar, New Bongaigaon and Badarpur stations.

E-tendering and e-Office to reduce the use of paper: Railways undertook multiple initiatives to digitize all procurement and supply chain activities making it paperless in a phased manner. Digitisation of procurement processes and online interaction with vendors have eliminated any requirement to visit Railway offices by vendors which have reduced fuel consumption at vendors' end. Energy requirement and upkeep of offices have also improved due to the elimination of physical files.

In a major step towards digitization, e-Office has been implemented in NFR for the elimination of the use of paper in official working in railways. This will also promote a green way of working by introducing paperless work culture, stated a release.

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