M A I N   N E W S

Railways to go LNG way to cut carbon footprints

New Delhi, August 14
The Indian Railways has decided to gradually opt for liquefied natural gas on a large scale as part of its effort to reduce diesel consumption, green house gas emissions and ensure major operational savings.

The Railways and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) have signed an MoU to explore the potential of LNG in a substantial manner in locomotives, factories and workshops.

"The induction of LNG in railways is likely to be in a phase-wise manner. We will begin with industrial uses in factories to usage in diesel multiple units and then in mainline diesel locomotives," a senior Railway Ministry official said.

The Railways is currently dependent on refined petroleum products such as high speed diesel for locomotives and furnace oil in workshops and factories. At the moment, the transport behemoth uses approximately 250 crore litre of high speed diesel for locomotives annually.

"It costs around Rs 10,000 crore for the fuel and even if we manage to reduce 10 per cent of diesel consumption then the Railways' saving will be Rs 1,000 crore in a year," the official said.

LNG opens up immense possibilities to use this low cost and environment-friendly fuel both for industrial and traction purposes. It is sourced from the Middle East in special tankers with cryogenic facilities.

The fuel must be delivered to the end user through a 'cold chain' of cryogenic tanks and storages and special cryogenic road tankers. — PTI

Cheap fuel

n Railways is currently dependent on refined petroleum products such as high speed diesel (HSD) for locomotives and furnace oil in workshops

n At the moment, around 250 crore litre of HSD is used for locomotives annually. It comes at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore

n Liquefied natural gas opens up immense possibilities, as it's low cost and environment-friendly fuel