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.
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