Rajkot and Bhavnagar Divisions of WR bags Prize in the Institution Category for Energy Conservation

WR wins first prize in energy conservation in transport sector at the National Energy Conservation awards 2019

In its continuous efforts towards contributing extensively
for providing a clean and green transportation to its commuters, W.Rly bagged
three prestigious National Energy Conservation Awards (NECA) in two categories
for the year 2018-19 organised by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry
of Power. Western Railway was awarded with the First prize in the
Transportation Category along with Second and Third in Institution Category for
Energy Conservation measures adopted by Divisional Railway Manager’s offices at
Rajkot and Bhavnagar respectively.



Sanjiv Bhutani – Principal Chief Electrical Engineer of
Western Railway accepted the First Prize in Transport Category from Minister of
Power and Renewable Energy R.K. Singh at National Energy Conservation Awards
2019 in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 14th December, 2019.



According to a press release issued by WR CPRO Ravinder
Bhakar, W. Rly was given this top honour for its significant improvement in
Specific Energy Consumption (SEC), which is an index for measuring energy
efficiency in carrying traffic in the Transportation Category. Through various
measures such as, provision of coasting board and counseling crew to switch off
traction at falling gradients, fixing up of trip ration load wise & section
wise and its strict monitoring, switching off of trailing Locomotive in
Multiple Unit while working light load, 100% use of Regenerative Braking in
3phase state of the art electric locomotives & EMUs, switching off of
locomotives when idle for more 30 minutes & switching off of auxiliary
machines if locomotive is idle for more than 15 minutes, monitoring of driving
technique of Loco Pilots to conserve energy and monitoring of energy efficient
crew and extensive counseling of weak crew to improve their driving technique,
Western Railway was able to bring down its expenditure on energy.



It is worth mentioning that these measures have resulted in
substantial improvement in the Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) i.e 5.49
kwh/1000GTKM  for carrying load in 2018-19 against 5.95 during 2017-18 for
Railway traction. Bhakar stated that in the Institution Category, Rajkot and
Bhavnagar Divisions of Western Railway received the Second and Third prizes for
the efforts made by these divisions to promote energy efficiency in the non
traction area.



Many measures such as Replacement of conventional ACs by 5
star rated AC, Replacement of  conventional luminiaries by LED luminiaries
in Railway stations, Replacement of  conventional luminiaries by LED
luminiaries in Service buildings, Replacement of  conventional luminiaries
by LED luminiaries in colonies and street lights, Switching off light & fan
circuit when not required, Use of energy efficient equipments in offices, sheds
& workshops, Provision of timers for lights and fans, Installation of solar
PV panels on rooftops of Stations, Buildings and Rest Houses and Installation
of solar water heaters played an instrumental part in conserving energy by
these Divisions.



Western Railway with its commitment towards maximizing energy
conservation has also replaced all conventional lights with energy efficient
LED lights at all the 726 stations, 2479 service buildings & 40714
residential quarters. These measures have brought down the Specific Energy
Consumption (SEC) to 44.05 (kwh/kw) in 2018-19 against 47.8 (kwh/kw) during 2017-18.
This resulted in non-traction energy saving of 4.5 million units during FY
2018-19. In total, Western Rialway has saved Rs. 3.25 crore on account of
energy conservation.