Indian Railways to set up additional 8,500 km of transmission lines

Indian Railways to set up additional 8,500 km of transmission lines to end dependence on state discoms

The national transporter plans to create a network of transmission lines across the diamond quadrilateral as well.Anisha Dutta | ETEnergyWorld | June 08, 2017, 

Indian Railways, which is working towards saving its energy bill and ending dependence on state discoms, is planning to expand its own powertransmission lines by an additional 8,500 km.

At present the national transporter is working on setting up transmission lines across the dedicated freight corridor. It plans to create a network of transmission lines across the diamond quadrilateral as well.

“We have also planned to create a network of 8000 Km to cover the diamond quadrilateral under the first phase. This will be through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) route along with investment through railways’ capex,” Railway Board, Member (traction) Ghanshyam Singh told ETEnergyworld.

The Railways also plans to set up additional 500 km of transmission lines along South East Central Railway Zone.

“We are setting up 400 km of our own transmission lines from Dadri to Kanpur, it has also been extended to an additional 200 Km from Kanpur to Allahabad. We will also set up transmission lines from Sonnagar to Mughalsarai which will be another 360 km. Another 500 km of lines are also be set up under South East Railways by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd,” he added.

According to a railways’ document titled “Indian Railways’ Energy Policy and Management”, which was released on 3 November 2016, the national carrier has taken up construction on following routes—Allahabad-Mughalsarai (160km), Mughalsarai-Howrah (700km), Mughalsarai-Son Nagar (130km), Delhi-Bharuch (1,100km), Delhi-Chennai (2,200km), Howrah-Mumbai (2,000km) and in South East Central Railway Zone (500km).

The national carrier, which consumes 18 billion units of electricity, spends around Rs 10,000 crore on its electricity bill annually and spent Rs 9,200 crore the previous financial year.

Indian Railways following the nod given by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) in 2015 also acquired the status of deemed distribution licence under the Electricity Act, 2003 bringing railways on a par with discoms.

ETEnergyworld had earlier reported that more states were coming on board in allowing Non-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to the Indian Railways for procurement of electricity directly from a supplier of its choice. Indian Railways aims to reduce its energy bill by Rs 3,000 crore through the plan.

The transporter is also working on a mega 41,000 crore energy saving plan over the next decade.