Indian Railways can reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 239 tonnes per year per train by fixing solar panels atop coaches The railways’ decision to experiment with solar energy to electrify train coaches can substantially reduce its carbon footprint, say researchers. Union railway minister D V Sadananda Gowda in June announced an Rs 7-crore pilot project to electrify 30 train coaches with solar power. The solar-powered coaches will start plying within six months on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh and Delhi-Haryana routes.

A team of researchers from Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru calculate that installing photovoltaic panels atop coaches can reduce 239 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year per train, which is roughly equal to the annual emissions of 50 cars in the city. On an average, 11,000 trains ply in India every day. The researchers say the Railways can save close to Rs 60 lakh annually on each train by shifting to solar panels. Their paper on the use of solar energy to fuel railway coaches is scheduled to be published in Current Science journal.

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