Sunday, 20 December 2015
Friday, 18 December 2015
UN APPRECIATION FOR DELHI METRO RAIL
DMRC gets appreciation for its Green Initiatives by UN at Paris
New Delhi: The continuous efforts of DMRC regarding protection of global environment and sustainable Transport were appreciated by the United Nations at a high level meeting held on the side-lines of COP-21 at Paris, earlier this month.
The presentation given by Shri K.K. Saberwal, Director, Finance, DMRC in the meeting, organized by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, highlighted Delhi Metro’s efforts in addressing the issues relating to sustainability in urban transport.
According to the presentation, DMRC has been a frontrunner in quantifying climate change benefits and earning carbon credits from its projects on Regenerative Braking, Modal Shift and Energy Efficiency which have effectively reduced CO2 emissions annually. ‘The lead taken by DMRC in spearheading a metro revolution in India has resulted in metro systems being planned and executed in major Indian cities positively effecting the mitigation of the Green House Gases too’, Mr. Saberwal said during the presentation. He further demonstrated on DMRC’s Solar and other Green initiatives which was well received by the officials from the United Nations.
The UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport (HLAG-ST), includes leaders from the public and private sectors across world, including Dr. E. Sreedharan, Principal Advisor, DMRC, as its key member (Principal). The group is working to ensure that sustainable transport makes a meaningful contribution to the sustainable development of the planet and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed at the UN Sustainable Development Summit.
DMRC earlier named second-best Metro in the world
Notwithstanding its frequent glitches and overcrowding, the Delhi Metro had also emerged as the second most popular Metro network in the world, ahead of Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Singapore and others based on an online survey on customer satisfaction which has put the Delhi Metro among the top three Metro networks along with those in London and Bangkok.
The survey was conducted by Global Metro Bench-marking Groups NOVA and CoMET, to access overall customer satisfaction across 18 international Metro systems.
More than 41,000 respondents from around the world gave their feedback in this survey, links to which were widely distributed through the Internet from April 28 to May 25.
The Metro systems that participated in this survey were the Delhi Metro, Hong Kong MTR, London Underground, Metro De Madrid, Paris RATP, Metro De Sandiago, Singapore SMRT, Barcelona TMB, Brussels STIB, Bangkok BMCL, London DLR, Istanbul Ulasim, Kuala Lumpur Rapid PL, Metropolitano De Lisboa, Montreal STM, Newcastle Nexus, Metro Rio, and Toronto TTC.
According to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the respondents gave most priority to ‘availability’ of the Delhi Metro, while ‘reliability’ was the key factor in New Castle and Hong Kong.
“The survey was conducted as per the European Norm 13816 and the areas covered were availability, accessibility, information, reliability, customer care, comfort, crowding, and security,” Delhi Metro spokesperson Anuj Dayal said.
Thursday, 17 December 2015
SOLAR RAIL
Solar Power panels atop Train Coaches can save 11 Crore Litres of Diesel, reduce 3 Lakh Tons of Carbondioxide Emissions: IISc Scientists
Chennai: Fitting a solar panel module on the roof of a railway coach can yield more than 7,200 units of electricity every year. If implemented on all 63,511 coaches in the Railways, 450 million units of power can be harnessed resulting in savings of 10.8 crore litres of diesel and reduction of carbon dioxide emission by approximately 3 lakh tonnes.
These are the findings of a pilot field research conducted by a team of scientists from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who travelled on a solar-panel fitted LHB (Linke Hoffman Busch) coach, a latest German technology bogie, which was attached to the Chennai-Coimbatore, Chennai-Mysore Shatabdi and Chennai-Bangalore Double Decker Express trains on different days during June 24-July 2. The research was carried out to assess the feasibility and viability of generating electricity on a moving train from solar panels fitted on the rooftops of trains and the impact of factors like sunshine, train speed, number of halts, track curves, etc.
The pilot study was carried out in a ‘worst-case scenario’, i.e. during the onset of the Southwest monsoon on railway routes with low sunshine due to clouds or rainfall. Hence the electricity generation in places and seasons of harsher sunshine would give a greater yield, thereby projecting a figure bigger than what was arrived at in this study.
The coach could generate a maximum of 1.8 units of electricity per day, according to the research findings. This was extrapolated to a scenario where 24 such panels (12X2 module) could be retrofitted on the coach.
Thus, the resulting yield was assessed to be 18-20 units per day. The figures for yearly savings have been arrived at by assuming that the coach would be in operation for 365 days a year in the report, though the industry standard is 330 days.
The study was done on the Shatabdi Express as it has minimum stoppages; however, the team wanted to measure the power yield at lower speeds and hence the Double Decker Express train was chosen. The team also reported on a number of practical factors which contributed to fluctuations in electricity generation during all the trial runs. A static trial was also carried out at the Basin Bridge yard here to compare the parameters with the dynamic trial.
The study is significant in the context of the shift by the Railways from conventional coaches to German technology LHB rakes, which have better safety features. For operation of electrical appliances inside an LHB coach, power supply from the End on Generation (EOG) system (a generator) is needed, which consumes 0.25 litres of diesel to generate 1 unit of electricity. If every LHB rake is fitted with 12X2 Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) module, it would result in huge energy savings as well as cut environmental pollution caused by burning diesel.
The study findings could be used to manufacture and design many such Solar Rail Coaches on a large-scale which could significantly bring down the price of the solar panels and operational costs. In addition, with increased interest in the field of solar energy research, an advancement in technology raised the possibility of a yield greater than what was obtained during the field trials, resulting in greater diesel savings and an effective solution for reduced emissions. Railway officials noted that implementation of the project on a wider scale could provide a fillip to the domestic solar panel manufacturing industry in line with the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Indian Railways to introduce 500 Solar Panel fitted Trains
A lot of latest innovations are being brought in the system with the directives of the Railway Minister who is determined to change the way the IR works
New Delhi: Indian Railways may introduce 500 trains with solar panel fitted coaches. Reports that the ministry of new and renewable energy could subsidize the project cost. The national transporter had run a pilot project with a specially outfitted coach earlier this year to study the feasibility of such an initiative.
The energy generated by the solar panels is likely to be used solely to meet illumination and air flow requirements in the bogies.
The report does not detail whether the project would also have storage mechanisms coupled with the panels to power devices in the absence of sunlight.
The railways already have a plan to install solar power capacity of 500 megawatts on rooftops of railway stations.
It is part of the organization’s target to meet 10 percent of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020.
And it has signed four agreements with the ministries of power and renewable energy toward this purpose last month.
On average, Indian Railways is seeing 5 percent increase in energy consumption annually. In the year ended March 31, the railways had a power bill of Rs12,500 crore.
Recently the railway network of The Netherlands, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, announced that it will be operating its entire rolling stock on wind power by 2018.
Weighty Challenge: Solar Powered Coaches will have to rework Coach Weight
Chennai: The Integral Coach Factory’s (ICF) trials, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, with solar powered coaches have been successful, but has now thrown open another weighty challenge.
The solar panels, while generating enough electricity to power a non-air-conditioned coach, are also creating a problem of adding to the deadweight of the coach. This means that coaches with the panels will have to be redesigned and engineered to ensure that the weight of the coach does not go up.
“We have received the report from IISc. We are taking a further call on it. The solar panels, however, add to the weight of the coach. Some framework is required to mount the panel on the roof. Without adding extra weight, we have to see how to bring power to the coach,” an ICF official told.
In June, the Railways rolled out its first solar panel-enabled coach that generated about 17 units of power in a day to enable the lighting system in the coach on the Rewari-Sitapur passenger train. The department has plans to generate about 1,000 MW in the next five years. Through this plan, the Railways hopes to reduce the amount of electricity it draws from the grid.
However, mass production of solar powered coaches will be viable when the issue of the deadweight is solved. “We can have batteries to store the solar power generated during the day, but that will require a large number of batteries which will once again add to the deadweight,” the official pointed out. “The panels can be embedded on the roof itself. But, it will require extensive design change in the roof. A commercially viable solution is required,” the official added.
Some framework is required to mount the panel on the roof
Monday, 14 December 2015
Critics on High Speed Rail project
Critics sing different tunes on India’s ambitious High Speed Rail project
The highlight of the three-day visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is the signing of a pact for the the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-speed rail corridor, a massive project involving a cost of 98000 crore rupees. Both sides have invested time, energy and diplomatic resources in this showpiece project for which the Japanese are committed to advancing a loan of 8 billion dollars.
But before Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu borrows money for the project, there is an urgent need to review the faulty model that his ministry has prepared. If not, this expensive mistake will haunt India for a long time.
Japan has offered to participate in the California High-speed rail project by forming the Japan-California HSR Consortium which comprises of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, East Japan Railway Company, Hitachi Ltd, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nippon Sharyo Ltd, Sumitomo Corporation etc to satisfy the Buy America laws. It is possible that a similar consortium may make an offer for an HSR system in India, and manufacture train-sets here, even though there is no compulsory ‘Make in India’ law, despite the Prime Minister’s call for it.
It must however be pointed out that the US has not sought any funding from Japan, even though many American states have not been able to tie-up funding arrangements for their HSR projects. The US also does not seek transfer of technology through these firms because General Electric has already formed a partnership with Chinese HSR train set manufacturers. It is only a matter of time before GE absorbs the technology and innovates on it.
India’s case is different. We are seeking loans to build the HSR but are ambivalent in our approach to acquiring technology and indigenous manufacture of high-end components in the traction chain. Essentially, India’s Ministry of Railways projects the image of a buyer of rolling stock rather than that of a technology seeker.
A country that needs low-cost loans, with a mix of treasury and commercial loans, will never hold vantage position when it comes to technology acquisition. A nation holding advanced rail technology is unlikely to offer more than low-tech and low value items like car bodies. It is unlikely to offer critical components in the traction chain. Even though the media releases and speculative reports contain HSR technology transfer, it is very doubtful that any hard bargain has been done about acquisition of HSR technology like what the South Koreans have done in the past. Korea could pull off complete technology transfer after nearly seven rounds of tough negotiations, because they bought technology with their own money. With a resident technology, Korea is able to produce almost all critical high tech and high value components of HSR train sets within their country and even compete against Germany, France and Japan. Even if we invite HSR technology holding nations to set up shop in India, the loan repayment liability and lack of control on high prices of rolling stock, signaling equipment and spares will adversely impact HSR’s operational success in India.
HSR idea began in 2001-2002
In India, the history of HSR started with an announcement made in the Rail Budget of 2000-2001 about high speed railways, which resulted in a general feasibility study done by Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES).
Serious efforts however were made in 2005-2007 by the Railway Board to get the project moving. Files were initiated for the first time in 2006 about one medium rail line route length (around 450 – 500 km) each in the Northern, Eastern, Western and Southern regions of India, in consultation with State Governments. This was not accepted by Lalu Yadav, the then Railway Minister who did not want to encourage High-speed rail projects, as he felt that these were infrastructure projects meant for the elite and middle-class passengers. In those days, the Prime Minister used to be given a presentation by the Railway Board on the broad outlines of the Railway Budget. In January 2007, a separate presentation about HSR was made along with this budget presentation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In that presentation, a strategy for mobilising resources for HSR with a near zero net cost to the government was included.
The presentation was appreciated and accordingly another proposal was moved by the Board to include a formal announcement about HSR proposed routes in the Rail Budget of February 2007. This was resisted by the Railway Minister but the Board stood firm and insisted on including this announcement in the Budget. Finally an announcement was made about a proposal to prepare a pre-feasibilty study. In those days the Railway Boards in general showed a tough sense of professionalism.
The Board then started consultation process with the States and presentations about the HSR were given to Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries. Gujarat was the first State Government to offer support and offered to finance the study. Some States like Punjab, Kerala and Maharashtra too wanted to know about HSR and gave very valuable guidance. For example, the then Maharashtra Chief Minister was unhappy about the proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR not covering important cities like Pune and Nasik and also Mumbai -Nagpur. Punjab supported an elevated alignment but expressed concern at land acquisitions by the National Highways Authority of India. Karnataka did not favour the proposed Chennai-Bangalore link but wanted a corridor to extend to Hubli-Dharwad to support their industrial expansion plans.
A proposal to create a National High Speed Rail Commission of India (NHSRCI) was unanimously approved by the Board for seeking clearance of the Council of Ministers. However, the Railway Minister did not clear the proposal.
Having shared this chequered history of roadblocks that the then Railway Board faced, I, as part of that Railway Board, must admit that we made a mistake in randomly choosing four regional HSR corridors of 450-500 km, instead of a national network as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has envisaged. His plan of a HSR Diamond Corridor is perhaps the most suitable intercity network model. This was exactly what India’s most illustrious railway expert, E Sreedharan advised when Dedicated Freight Corridors were being planned—he had suggested that India should opt for a Dedicated Higher Speed Passenger Corridor rather than a freight one.
A baffling change
What is baffling therefore is that the Ministry of Railways is now deviating from the Prime Minister’s Diamond Corridor concept. Instead, it is still clinging on to a regionally anchored but fragmented HSR Network Model originally proposed in the Railway Budget of February 2007.
The proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR Corridor, which will involve huge borrowings from the Japanese, is going to be sandwiched between the existing conventional speed rail (CSR) corridor and the Dedicated Freight Corridor running through Gujarat to Mumbai. To confuse matters further, the Railway Ministry is preparing an expensive upgrade of the Conventional Speed Rail corridor from the present 130 KMPH to 160-180 KMPH, which will be in direct competition to the new HSR corridor, that too on the same alignment. The conventional speed rail corridor will lose its premium passenger segment to HSR, and its freight to DFC. It will be left with nothing but low revenue commuter passenger services. In addition, more competition can also be expected from the expressways and coastal passenger ferries also being promoted alongside. The Ministry could have avoided these multiple investments in parallel corridors.
One excellent alternative would have been to re-fix the alignment of the HSR from Ahmedabad to the upcoming super city Dholera in Gujarat and from there to Surat, using the proposed Kalpasar project on the Gulf of Khambat. From Surat it can use one of the narrow gauge corridors and reach Nasik, Thane and Navi-Mumbai before reaching across to Mumbai.
The purpose of creating an HSR Corridor is not to simply showcase speedy travel. The main takeaway must be stringing in 10 other cities and ushering in development along the way. If the Ministry goes ahead with its plan, this faulty rail network planning model – reminiscent of the “Railway Mania” in the US in the early 20th century — is going to be an albatross.
States planning their own networks
The need of the hour is to create a regulatory authority to independently plan an HSR Diamond Corridor network, which will draft a policy and also set standards. Otherwise, the creation of fragmented medium-distance HSR corridors will trigger demands from other regions and States. The Kerala HSR Corporation has already gone far ahead with its own corridor with a feasibility report, which has envisaged a total investment of Rs 65000 crore, which, at Rs 151 crore per km, is lower than the Mumbai-Ahmedabad figure of Rs 200 crore per annum.
The government should shun the diffidence and tokenism of showcasing one medium distance HSR corridor, built almost entirely on borrowed money as a tiny piece of modern infrastructure. Go the whole hog for a HSR passenger corridor network.
The government should also source funding from within India. Funding can be sourced from India. Make it the common man’s cherished project and raise funds from within India—several innovation methods can be used for this. The most critical issue is making the HSR affordable for the common man. There is a big gap between the yield per seat/km sold by low cost airlines and that of the Indian Railways; this gap can be filled by the High-speed rail.
If giant HSR projects, backed by external commercial borrowings are pushed through Cabinet decisions, without consulting the states, without doing extensive ground work, and without going for simple and straightforward open public consultation, they will certainly end up facing public resistance.
Sunday, 29 November 2015
Sunday, 17 May 2015
Friday, 1 May 2015
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