India's Ageing Trains Get Green Makeover With Solar Panels
India's Ageing Trains Get Green Makeover With Solar Panels
India's Ageing Trains Get Green Makeover With Solar Panels
Solar Panels
India has added solar panels to the roof of a train in a national first as it tries to reduce its
massive carbon footprint and modernize its vast colonial-era rail network.
The lighting, fans and information displays inside the train -- once powered by diesel -- will run
off the sun's energy after the panels fitted to the carriage.
The train has begun journeys around the capital New Delhi, helping move just some of the 23
million passengers who use India's rail network every day.
"We will be inducting at least four other solar-powered trains in the next six months," Anil
Kumar Saxena, Indian railways spokesperson, told AFP on Wednesday.
Batteries charged by the solar panels during the day take over if there is no sunlight, Saxena
added. Only as a last resort, if the batteries perish, would diesel used.
Each train drawing on this green energy expected to save around 21,000 liters of diesel every
year, helping reduce India's enormous reliance on fossil fuels and huge output of carbon
emissions.
Built by India's former British colonial rulers, the railway system is one of the world’s largest
and is still the main means of long-distance travel in the huge country.
However, years of financial neglect and a populist policy of subsidizing fares have hit the
network hard. Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to revive it after coming to power in May
2014.
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