Yahoo – AFP,
July 19, 2017
Indian railways: years of under-investment but now a green initiative (AFP Photo/ NARINDER NANU) |
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 modernise 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 were 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 be
used.
Each train
drawing on this green energy is expected to save around 21,000 litres 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.
But years
of financial neglect and a populist policy of subsidising fares have hit the
network hard. Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to revive it after coming to
power in May 2014.
India's ageing trains get green makeover with solar panels https://t.co/SHfTZgy5jA pic.twitter.com/O7TpJQXomH— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 19, 2017
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