Northern Railway has signed an MoU with IGL to switch to Piped Natural Gas across 22 establishments, aiming to replace daily LPG and diesel usage while improving efficiency and promoting the transition toward cleaner energy sources.
Northern Railway Switches to Cleaner Energy
Northern Railway will replace around 500 kg of LPG and 2,500 litres of diesel consumed daily across 22 railway establishments with piped natural gas (PNG), following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL). The initial PNG consumption under the agreement is estimated at 3,000 Standard Cubic Metres per Day (SCMD), with demand expected to increase to 8,000-10,000 SCMD in the coming years as infrastructure and connectivity expand, IGL said in a statement on Saturday.
The agreement covers railway establishments across Delhi, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar and is aimed at accelerating the adoption of natural gas among institutional and commercial consumers under the government’s National PNG Drive 3.0.
Implementation and Future Expansion
Phase One Deployment
Under the first phase, PNG will be supplied to 22 designated locations, including departmental mechanised laundries at Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Old Delhi, Anand Vihar Terminal, Hazrat Nizamuddin and New Delhi, where the fuel will be used for boiler operations. The agreement also covers officers’ rest houses, base kitchens, running rooms, subordinate rest houses and guard and Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) lobbies.
Strategic Growth Plans
The partnership is expected to expand with the development of PNG infrastructure across IGL’s authorised geographical areas, including Ajmer, Banda, Rewari and Muzaffarnagar. Speaking on the occasion, Pushpesh Raman Tripathi, Divisional Railway Manager, Delhi Division, Northern Railway, said the agreement would help Indian Railways reduce substantial energy costs. He added that the railway administration plans to extend PNG connectivity to railway hospitals and residential colonies in the future.
Subhankar Sen, Chairman of IGL, said the collaboration would facilitate the substitution of a substantial quantity of LPG with natural gas, helping reduce import dependence and the associated subsidy burden. He added that the initiative could pave the way for a wider transition from LPG to PNG across the Indian Railways network.
Kumar Shanker, Managing Director of IGL, described the partnership as a pioneering model of collaboration between Indian Railways and city gas distribution companies. The MoU was signed in the presence of senior officials from both organisations, including Mohit Bhatia, Director (Commercial), IGL. The initiative is expected to simplify fuel handling, improve supply reliability and support the transition towards cleaner energy sources across railway establishments. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianetnews Editorial staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)