http://www.business-standard.com/article/government-press-release/indian-railways-to-go-for-bio-diesel-in-a-big-way-114110500702_1.html
Indian Railways to go for Bio-Diesel in a Big Way - Gowda
Delhi
November 5, 2014
With a concern for cleaner environment, Indian Railways has decided to
promote use of alternative fuels like bio-diesel in a big way for
powering our vast fleet of over 4000 Diesel locomotives. This was stated
by the Minister of Railways Shri D.V.Sadananda Gowda at the inauguration
of Bio-Fuels - 2014 Conference with a theme 'Energize growth & Business
opportunities in Biodiesel sector in India' organized by Bio-Diesel
Association of India (BDAI) here today, Shri Gowda said that Indian
Railways, is the single largest bulk consumer of diesel in the country
and 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. This will save precious foreign exchange substantially.
Diesel locomotives cater to a large segment of rail traffic in the
country, hauling both passenger and freight trains. Indian Railways
consume over two billion litres of diesel every year. For this Railways
have to foot a bill of over Rs.15000 crore annually. Therefore, even a
small reduction in fuel consumption through blending with Bio-Diesel
will result in a substantial savings in the fuel bill. 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. Extensive trials have already been conducted by RDSO using
bio-diesel in different proportions on railway locomotives and results
have been found very encouraging, Shri Gowda said.
Railway Minister said that Indian Railways initially attempted blending
of High Speed Diesel (HSD) with Bio-Diesel extracted from the Jatropha
plant. Jatropha oil had been used in India as biodiesel in remote rural
and forest communities; Jatropha oil can be used directly after
extraction i.e. without refining in diesel generators and engines. The
Minister said that Indian Railways will consider exploring possibilities
of planting Jatropha plants along the railway tracks. However, these
forays by Indian Railways met with limited success. Indian Railways have
also set up an Indian Railways Organisation for Alternate Fuels (IROAF)
to promote Bio-Diesels and other environmentally benign alternate fuels.
They have 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 on the PPP
mode.
Shri Gowda further said that Bio-fuels also have a role to play in our
efforts to address environmental concerns, particularly where we cannot
otherwise easily decarbonise, like in the transport sector. However, it
is crucial that the bio-fuels used must be genuinely sustainable and
cost effective. Unless these two imperatives are met, we would not be
able to proliferate Bio-Diesels in the manner we intend to. Shri Gowda
hoped that the deliberations in this conference would bring out
solutions needed to chalk out a path, both by the policy makers and the
industry to make this environmentally benign natural resource our fuel
of the future.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj
Sinha said that in order to generate interest in bio-diesel, adequate
quantities of bio-diesel will have to be made available at competitive
and attractive prices. To achieve this, setting up of raw material
supply chain would be necessary. This is a big challenge in a country
where neither edible oils nor other oils are surplus to the requirement.
In case the availability is unsatisfactory, the interest of common user
would not get generated. Shri Sinha said that as of now there is no
retail of bio diesel and thus no network for countrywide availability of
bio diesel. In case it is to be made popular with not only with railways
but with road transport also, countrywide distribution and storage
infrastructure will have be set up.
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