Indian Railways To Become Fully Electric In The Next 3 To 4 Years

To contribute to the attempts of controlling pollution in the country, the Indian Railways will reduce its dependence on diesel and switch the whole network to run on electronic locomotives in the next 3-4 years.

On Sunday, Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal, tweeted that the target has been set to make India Railways the first railway service in the world to become carbon-emission free in the next 3-4 years.

Earlier, at an event, Goyal said that Indian Railways would become the world first "net-zero" carbon emitter by 2030.

As per NITI Aayog's data, carbon dioxide emission from the Indian Railways was around 6.84 million tons in 2014.

The Railway Ministry has been looking to increase the use of electricity in running of trains. Amid concerns over global climate change, it also becomes important to reduce the amount of carbon emission from diesel locomotives.

As of 31 October 2019, almost 58 percent of Indian Railways'total broad gauge network had been commissioned on electric traction. From 2014 to 2019, 13,687 kilometres of railway tracks were electrified.