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Indian Railways to promote bio-diesel usage

November 6: Indian Railways has decided to promote use of bio-diesel to save foreign exchange and the environment, said D V Sadananda Gowda, Union Minister of Railways, during the inauguration of Bio-Fuels – 2014 Conference organised by the Bio-Diesel Association of India (BDAI).

Indian Railways spends around Rs 15,000 crore annually to purchase over two billion litres of diesel which is consumed by over 4,000 diesel locomotives for both passenger and freight rakes.

“As mentioned in Railway Budget, 2014-15, Indian Railways will start using bio-diesel up to 5% of the total fuel consumption in diesel locomotives ... even a small reduction in fuel consumption through blending with bio-diesel will result in substantial savings in the fuel bill,” Gowda said, “and this will save precious foreign exchange substantially”.

“In addition, the attendant benefits of a cleaner environment would also accrue on account of lower carbon emission, without requiring any change in the locomotive design,” the minister added.

The railway minister further said Indian Railways initially attempted blending of high speed diesel (HSD) with bio-diesel extracted from the Jatropha plant.

The minister said Indian Railways will consider exploring possibilities of planting Jatropha along the railway tracks. Indian Railways has also set up an Indian Railways Organisation for Alternate Fuels (IROAF) to promote bio-diesels and other environmentally benign alternate fuels.

It has also been given the mandate to facilitate setting up of trans-etherification facilities for converting plant residues into bio-diesels. These facilities could be set up in the country through the PPP mode.