New Delhi: Union Minister Piyush Goyal, on Thursday, informed that Indian Railways will move to 100 per cent electrification in the next 3.5 years while aiming to achieve it's goal of "Green Railways" by 2030.
Goyal was addressing an event of Confederation of Indian Industry on "Renewable Energy Manufacturing". While hailing the strides India has made in the field of renewable energy, the Union Minister said that the Government is working towards transitioning into the international solar grid as India is playing a lead role in International Renewable Community.
He added, "Railways will move to 100 per cent electrification in the next 3.5 years and 100 per cent' Net Zero' operator in next 9-10 years. By 2030, each one of us will be proud Indians, owning the world's first large 'Green Railways'."
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Having a mission mode of becoming "Green Railway" by 2030, Indian Railways has completed electrification of more than 40,000 route kilometre in which 18,605-kilometre electrification work has been done during 2014-20.
Railways have also fixed a target of electrification of 7,000 route kilometre for the year 2020-21. All routes on Broad Gauge network has been planned to be electrified by December 2023.
On Saturday, Piyush Goyal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the program for 100 per cent electrification of Indian Railways because of which it will become the world's largest railway system with 100 per cent electrification of 1,20,000 track kilometre across the nation.
Apart from this, Railways has also taken several initiatives to achieve net-zero carbon emission, including the improvement in the energy efficiency of locomotives and trains and fixed installations, green certification for installations/stations, fitting bio-toilets in coaches and switching to renewable sources of energy.
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