Railway Board Reviews Metro Railway’s Green and Solar Projects

Dr. Jaideep Gupta, Additional Member (Railway Electrification), Railway Board reviewed the progress of different Green Initiatives of Metro Railway, Kolkata at Metro Rail Bhavan today on 28.04.2025.

During the meeting, trajectories pertinent to the ongoing energy saving and efficiency improvement projects like replacement of steel third rail by highly conductive aluminium third rail, Tunnel Ventilation System (TVS) and Environment Control System (ECS) for the underground section and Battery Energy Storage System with advanced chemical battery etc. were reviewed.

As published earlier, Metro Rail had reiterated that the replacement of steel third rail with highly conductive aluminium third rail will help to reduce the loss of heat generation on third rail by 80%. Revamping of TVS and ECS with bi-directional fans with different modes shall ensure running of ventilation system as and when required in place of current requirement of running 24×7. This will help in savings of Rs. 20 Crore per year. Battery Energy Storage System will assist Metro Railway for peak saving and absorbing regenerative energy for further use in other system during non-peak hours.

Metro Railway has already installed 4MW solar panels till date and planning to install another 23.5 MW solar panels in the next 2 years. Detailed planning has already been done by Metro Railway and clearance is awaited from Railway Board for this mega project.

After the review meeting, Additional Member (Railway Electrification) held a meeting with Mr. Vineet Sikka, MD (Distribution), CESC, regarding unintermittent supply of electricity from renewable sources to Metro Railway, Kolkata to achieve Indian Railway’s goal of net zero carbon emitter by 2030. Recent developments like open access model, Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) model, net billing, captive plant, green power direct from CESC etc. were also discussed for further reduction of carbon footprint of Metro Railway Kolkata.

In the meeting, CESC team led by Mr. Vineet Sikka, MD (Distribution), explained various tariff structure and options available for procurement of green energy from CESC.

Team Maverick