In order to foster the green initiatives in the country, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Ministry of Railways and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) on Friday. The Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi, Director General of CII Chandrajit Banerjee, Member - Rolling Stock Rajesh Agarwal and other railway board officials were present at the event. As per the recent deal about 50 railway units, 12 railway stations, and 16 more buildings will receive a green certification. The Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi also anticipated that more production units and workshops would be touching the same mark in the future.

Minister Suresh Angadi said, “Cleanliness (Swachhta) has become a movement. Taking inspiration from the Prime Minister, mass participation is being witnessed on this front across the whole country. We at railways are also making concerted efforts to ensure cleanliness and hygiene in trains and on the station premises.” He also tweeted about the initiative saying that this green journey of Indian Railways has been as old as three years because they have been trying to reduce their carbon footprint since 2016. 

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Objectives of the MoU signed between CII and Indian Railways 

The major objectives of the MoU signed in between CII and Indian Railways are energy efficiency in manufacturing facilities, greening of the railway properties, demonstrative pilots of net-zero energy buildings, development of green procurement policy, waste management policy, solid waste disposal, carbon neutrality, and phytoremediation. Also, three coffee table publications on energy efficiency, GreenCo rating and green buildings, including railway stations were released as per the conceptualization under the MoU. The rate of performance of the industrial units pursuing environmentally sustainable practices is calculated by a GreeCo rating system, developed and designed by CII. This system also certifies these industrial buildings as a green building. Indian railways and CII have been working together since 2016 on green rating and energy efficiency studies. 

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Other sustainable initiatives by Indian Railways 

In the beginning of the year 2019, Indian railways undertook some major initiatives to Go Green. According to a PIB report, the Ministry of Railways has planned to set up 1000 Mega Watt (MW) solar power by 2020-21 which would help Railways to source about 10% of its electrical energy from renewable sources. Also, the blending of 5% biodiesel in High-Speed Diesel (HSD) for locomotives was started in June 2015. Another initiative by the IR aimed at the substitution of 20% Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) with solar energy-based DEMUs (Diesel Electric Multiple Unit).

Other objectives of the resolution also included tree plantation in railways premises, water management and water audits at major consumption centers and an increase in the installation of environment-friendly bio-toilets in passenger coaches. 

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(With ANI Inputs)