Annual diesel consumption by Indian Railway

2500 million lits of diesel  per annum is a huge amount of fuel.  This is what Indian railways end up using every year. Long ago trials have been successfully conducted by IR owned research establishment,  demonstrating that up to 20% of this quantity – 500 million lits – can be substituted by  bio-diesel. 


Tractive effort will remain practically unchanged. Maintenance  cost of the fleet will come down with this substitution as lubricity of bio diesel is more than fossil diesel. Carbon and other gases emitted to atmosphere will be significantly reduced.

This 20% works out to be approx  1.5 million lts per day. From reliable sources it is learnt that the amount of seeds which go uncollected in our forests is sufficient to produce this much of oil. It would be nice if some NGO comes forward to organise various linkages to channelize the seeds to those who want this valuable raw material.

Indian Railways in the year 2051.

Railways all over the world have been  leading  the technological evolution with a view to provide a cost effective mode of transportation of population as well as goods over long distances. Indian Railways are no different from others.
Today we are not able to meet with the demand most of the time. Public gets frustrated when they do not get reservations. Railways lose some of them to road for ever.Survival in such a situation is real challenge. Technology is the only answer.
Coming to specifics, fuel is the second costliest input which need to be focused upon. It is worth mentioning that Indian Railways deploy about 5000 diesel locomotives and  consume about 2500 million lits of Diesel every year  to manage the show. We need to find better and cost effective fuels in order to meet the challenges of a growing economy.
The year 2051 would see us running much more number of trains over long distances, with higher speeds. Tracks will have to be dedicated for speeds like 250 kmph. At the same time there would be passenger trains running at 100 kmph.
It can safely be predicted that present forms of traction will remain in vogue, though with better features to achieve higher economy in fuel consumption and also to reduce carbon emission.