In six months, Chennai Metro Rail may have its first solar power generation facilities with a production capacity of 1MW.
According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), they have signed an agreement with a firm in this regard.
At first, the solar power panels will be installed on the rooftop of the shed in the depot at Koyambedu; then, they will explore the option of installing it in stations too, officials said.
This depot, which sprawls over 26 hectares, is being built at a cost of Rs. 198 crore; and it houses stabling lines, workshops, washing plants for trains and also the Operation Control Centre (OCC) from where all trains of Chennai Metro Rail can be controlled and monitored.
Currently, we use about 40,000 units of electricity; if this solar power generation begins, it may be able to take about 30-40 per cent of the total energy consumption. We may be able to use it for various functions including running of escalators, lifts and other such purposes, an official said.
Ramya Gopinath of Solar Mango, a solar energy consulting firm said aiding the supply of electricity with solar power is a great initiative for mass rapid transit.
1MW may not be huge investment for a mass rapid transit like Chennai Metro Rail; but it is a good startWith 1MW, they can meet up to 30 per cent of the total energy requirement. But it will help to a great extent only if they eventually increase the production capacity. It will be better if they at least go up to 3 MW, she said.
Delhi Metro Rail had exploited this resource to such an extent that they were given an award for the highest capacity installation of grid connected solar power plants on rooftops last year.
They have commissioned about 2,000 KWP of rooftops solar plants and also signed a power purchase agreement for another 7MW capacity.
In December, they signed an MoU with Solar Energy Corporation of India for production of 500MW for catering to its upcoming phase III project.
Similarly, Bangalore Metro Rail too has made plans to exploit solar energy potential in its station premises.
The power panels will generate 1MW that will take care of 30 per cent of energy requirement
NEW DELHI: Gatimaan Express, the country's first semi-high speed train, was flagged off Tuesday morning by Uni0n Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
The new train - that can reach a maximum speed of 160 km per hour - will operate between Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin station and Agra Cantonment station. It will run six days a week, except on Fridays.
"The launch of this train heralds a new era of high-speed rail travel in India. Railway Minister has been emphasising about increasing the speed of both passenger and goods trains in his budget speeches," the ministry said in a statement yesterday.
The Gatiman Express train comprises two executive AC chair cars and eight AC chair car coaches. The fare for an AC chair car seat is set at Rs 750 and that for an executive AC chair car seat at Rs 1,500.
The railway ministry said that catering on the new train will be carried out by the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a railway undertaking.
"IRCTC has made arrangement for deploying train hostesses on-board the train. This train will see improved catering and will have options of different kinds of cuisines," the statement added.
The new train also provides free on-board entertainment by a private provider, MyFreeTv.in.
"Under this facility, passengers can view various entertaining videos during the travel on their smartphone, tablets or laptops even without internet connection through Wi-Fi," the statement said.
The express train also features new Linke-Hofmann-Busch coaches made by the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala.
Bangladesh has finally taken the decision to get connected to the Trans-Asian railway, one of the most comprehensive networks of rail lines that connect Europe with Asia. The 129 km rail track will span from Dohazari to Gundum near Myanmar border via Cox's Bazaar. The original project was supposed to start in 2010. The delays we have faced in land acquisition and access to funding has meant inordinate delay, with the project cost shooting up from Tk1,852 to Tk18,034 crore. The feasibility study carried out by the Asian Development Bank necessitated changes in the original plan, for instance the move from metre gauge to broad gauge, all contributed to project delay.
Regardless of the hold-up in coming to a decision on this most strategic of connectivity issues, the construction of this rail line will facilitate massive cross border trade between the country with Myanmar and China. The movement of bulk goods from China to Bangladesh and vice versa by rail should shorten lead times significantly and open up new areas of business such as tourism. That we have lost valuable time which has raised the cost of this project manifold is not the question to ponder upon at this stage.
We understand that the railway ministry has been given three years to complete building of the rail line. While we applaud the government to make it a high priority project, we cannot but stress that our rate of implementation on mega projects has not been particularly impressive. And this is one area where all the good intentions of the government go to waste unless we can speed up the rate at which projects get off the ground.
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