Indian Railways aims to achieve net-zero carbon emission by 2030

On Friday, Railway Board secretary RN Singh told the media that the Indian Railways aims to reach net-zero carbon emission by 2030, and its focus is additionally on increasing network capacity.

Singh, while addressing the '4th Smart Railway Conclave' organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), told the media that the Railways' current focus is on its share of freight and passenger transport on economic and environmental considerations. It has additionally formulated an ambitious investment programme that mainly focuses on network capacity improvement and advancement of core assets, including tracks, network, station redevelopment, and boosting signalling and locomotives.

The Railways aims to electrify its entire broad-gauge network by December 2023 to reach the goal of 'net-zero' carbon emission by 2030, Singh, who is even the principal executive director (infra), said Singh.

He added that it is anticipated that dependence on fossil fuel-based power for the Indian Railways will be significantly reduced by 2030.

Indian Railways recently launched the National Rail plan where the primary objective is to develop capacity ahead of demand and enhance the rail freight share from 27% to 45% by 2030 via huge capital investment.

He told the media that Railways is a prominent participant in the government's Gati Shakti programme, which is likely to become a game-changer for the infrastructure and logistics scenario.

Additionally, the emphasis has been on making policy interventions like the introduction of the new Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal Policy and better PPP model which has been recently rolled out for hybrid build-operate-transfer (BOT), which will be deployed for floating tenders for the Sonnagar-Gomoh section.

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