India Railways has taken a big step towards energy saving. Now, like six other stations including Bhopal, at nine other stations, the lights automatically will turn off as soon as the trains pass. Similarly, when trains are about to enter these stations, 100% of the lights will be automatically switched on. These automatic systems have been installed at these stations using modern signal based technology, which is serving the purpose of saving electricity.
It was started from Vidisha station which has been rewarded for this effort. It is to be expanded to all 96 stations of the division. This system was installed earlier at Bhopal, Rani Kamalapati, Vidisha, Itarsi, Bina, Narmadapuram stations of Bhopal division. Now it has been implemented in Guna, Shivpuri, Harda, Sant Hirdaram Nagar, Ganj Basoda, Sanchi, Ashok Nagar, Biaora, Rajgarh also. A total of 33 platforms of these stations are covered.
In this way, talking about West Central Railway, these systems have been installed at 40 stations, which are covering 96 platforms. In this way, till now the Railways has saved 36 lakh units of electricity.
Earlier, these lights were on round the clock, due to which 36 lakh units of electricity was spent in a year extra. A large part of this electricity was generated from coal. Coal based factories remain a serious challenge to the environment and humans. By adopting such a system, Railways has made good efforts in reducing the need for coal based power.
West Central Railway GM Sudhir Kumar Gupta says that the railways are constantly working towards saving energy. As a result, new technologies are being introduced to save electricity. Work is being done expeditiously to implement this system at all the stations of the zone. Not only this, the railways has already started generating electricity from locomotives, which is fed directly into the national grid and the same power is used for train operations and platforms.
Saurabh Bandopadhyay, DRM, Bhopal Railway Division, says that the railways is working towards reducing the consumption of coal based electricity. Bina Solar Plant is the latest example of this. From here electricity is being generated for the operation of trains. Apart from this, solar panels have been installed on the roofs of sheds of all stations like Bhopal, Rani Kamalapati, Bina, Itarsi, where a lot of electricity is being generated.