Central Railway is the pioneering railway in the Indian sub-continent. It has also taken the lead in conservation of environment and has taken various steps towards achieving this goal.
Consistent efforts towards promoting and ensuring cleanliness at work places and railway premises and adopting various measures in conservation and protection of environment has enabled Central Railway to win the prestigious Environment and Cleanliness Shield at the 66th National Railway Award 2021.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Nagpur and Solapur stations and other units like Central Railway school at Kalyan and workshop units have got the IGBC gold certification.
Central Railway has a total of 87 Eco-smart stations which is the maximum number of Eco- smart stations on Indian Railways. It has also managed to get ISO certification for 87 % of its Eco smart stations till Dec 2021. (presently 76 out of 87 Eco smart stations are ISO certified). It has also obtained consent from the State/Central Pollution Control Board under The Water Act and Air Act for 74 stations out of 87 eco-smart stations of Central Railway which is a herculean task in terms of earning a satisfactory score complying with pollution norms.
Central Railway has been instrumental in setting up large number of renewable energy solar and wind energy plants and Self sustainable green stations. It has also been successful in fitting 100% of its coaches with bio-toilets thus ensuring hygiene and preventing corrosion of tracks.
Central Railway’s extensive plantation drives has resulted in a usage of around 106 hectares of railway land for plantations. It has 15 nurseries with around 25 lakhs saplings planted in the last 6 years which includes three Miyawaki plantations and herbal gardens which has helped in reducing carbon foot print and securing spare railway land as well. Composting plants set up at Bhusaval and composting machine set up at Lonavala converts organic waste to reusable manure.
Central Railway has also taken various steps towards effective water management. Rain water harvesting units has helped save water consumption by 12.86% over the previous year. Automatic Coach Washing plants, Sewage Treatment Plants, Water Cycling Plants and Effluent Treatment Plants have resulted in a water yield capacity of 1 crore litre per day. This is the highest capacity of waste water treatment capacity on any other zones of Indian Railway. These initiatives have reduced large amount of fresh water consumption and saving time of train washing and train watering.
Other steps towards better hygiene and clean environment includes distribution of face masks, hand gloves, sanitization by battery operated sprayers, provision of foot operated water taps in some coaches for hygiene of passengers, cleanliness through mechanized techniques like battery operated scrubber, High jet pressure, battery operated single disc scrubber drier, Vacuum cleaner, battery operated sweeping machine and Nukkad Nataks performed by CR artists on a regular basis in station premises for creating awareness have taken maintaining cleanliness and hygiene of stations and work place to a professional level.
With a view to create awareness about Conservation of Environment and promote the same, Central Railway recently organised the Matheran Rail Utsav – a 2 day Cultural Festival in association with Matheran Municipal Council. This Utsav which was the first of its kind displayed Matheran Light Railway’s ancient history, potraying the green initiatives of Central Railway and evolution of Matheran into an eco-sensitive zone. It also projected Matheran Light Railway(MLR) as a cultural landscape as also being recommended for UNESCO Greece Melina Mercouri International Prize-2021 for Safeguard and Management of Cultural Landscapes.
