South Eastern Railway has decided to promote energy conservation measures and use of alternative sources of energy in the current financial year.

As part of its environment friendly measures it will focus on the installation of solar plants to harness clean energy, usage of LED lights to cut down on regular electricity consumption and the introduction of Head On Generation (HOG) system in train operations.

HOG technology is an electrical power supply system which provides power drawn from the overhead electric lines to cater to the entire train load which includes lighting of the coaches, air conditioning, fans, pantry and other passenger interface requirements.

“These measures will make trains cost-efficient and also cut down on pollution,” explained a railway spokesman at Garden Reach, Calcutta-based headquarters of South Eastern Railway. The HOG system is free of air and noise pollution.

Currently, around only 35 trains are moving on the HOG system. Data indicates that it has resulted in the reduction of fuel cost and carbon emission.

SER also plans to increase the number of trains moving with HOG technology to 60 by March next year.

To save conventional energy, it will be switching over to non-conventional sources of energy in various phases.

Till now in SER, 2.306 MWp solar plants have been installed on the roof top of its Garden Reach headquarter and four divisions including Ranchi and Chakradharpur.

According to railway officials around 500 acre of vacant land along the railway tracks as well as settlements in SER jurisdiction have been identified for the installation of 201 MWp capacity of solar plant.

Notably, by consuming solar energy as an alternative source of energy, SER has saved Rs. 33.6 lakh in 2019-20 and Rs. 39 lakhs in 2020-21.

SER has also replaced conventional light fittings with energy efficient LED lights in all around 363 stations that fall under its jurisdiction and other railway establishments.