Western Railway is continuously working towards contributing extensively to ‘Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat’ Mission through new and ingenious ways.
With an increased emphasis on reduction in operation cost of the train, ultimately providing a greener & cleaner environment, the Electrical Department of Western Railway has commissioned 67 locomotives converted to Head On Generation (HOG) System till now, which the highest on Indian Railways.
According to a press release issued by Shri Ravinder Bhakar – Chief Public Relations Officer of WR, Western Railway has commissioned 67 3-Phase state-of-the-art WAP7 locomotives in which 25 kV Over Head Power Supply is converted to 750V by 500 KVA converters installed in the locomotives and transmitted through electrical couplers between coaches to meet electrical load of train.
It is worth mentioning that in the current financial year, Western Railway has modified electrical circuits in 34 rakes which is the highest on Indian Railways by a zonal railway.
As on 20th January 2020 out of the 65 HOG compliant LHB rakes primarily owned by Western Railway, 51 LHB rakes are running in services of 49 regular train pairs trains on HOG system. Efforts are being made to facilitate the further proliferation of the HOG system and savings in the cost of train operation by expediting work of electrification on Western Railway.
Shri Bhakar added that the HOG conversion work on Indian Railway was first started in Mumbai Central Division of Western Railway in November 2015, when the first rake of Train no. 12951/52 Mumbai – New Delhi Rajdhani Express was converted and taken over on HOG system.
Since then, the HOG rake holding & locomotives has increased progressively. As a result, Western Railway has recorded net savings of Rs. 32.22 cr during current financial year 2019-20 (upto 20thJanuary, 2020) and a total net saving during 2019-20 is expected to be Rs. 45cr (approximately).
It is applaudable that due to the switching over to HOG system, Western Railway has been able to achieve net savings of Rs. 83.06cr since December 2015 to 20th January 2020. The savings is on account of lower cost of electric energy drawn from overhead lines vis-a-vis cost of energy generated by operating the DG sets installed in power cars.
In addition to the savings, there has been drastic reduction in the consumption of High Speed Diesel (HSD) oil i.e. 16,696.843 KL which has led to reduction in CO2 emissions by 44,080 MT & thus helped in making the environment cleaner and pollution free.
It is truly commendable that with various green initiatives and ideas under its belt, Western Railway continues to be on the path of guarding the environment by its commitment towards creating a cleaner and healthier environment through its green initiatives.
