1 Trains from (JJK)JHINJHAK to (DLO)DALGAON

Indian Railway is striving hard to achieve the target of zero carbon emission by 2030. In an endeavour to minimize dependence o­n fossil fuels, the Northeast Frontier Railway is taking steps to generate green energy more and more by installing solar power plants across the zone. In a step forward to achieve the target of zero carbon emission, Roof-Top Solar power plants have been commissioned throughout the Northeast Frontier Railway generating 4358.233 Kilo Watt Peak (kwp) till March, 2022. This will, in turn, save 44.54 lakh units that amounts to approximately Rs 3.56 crore annually in energy bills.

N. F. Railway step towards its ‘Go-Green’ mission successfully commissioned 585 kwp of solar roof top systems in various stations and other service buildings during the last financial year. Out of 585 kwp, 195 kwp capacity is being commissioned in Lumding station, 100 kwp in Dimapur station and 120 kwp in Kamakhya Coaching Depot under Lumding division. Similarly, 100 kwp capacity is being commissioned in Rangiya station and 10 kwp each in Viswanath Chariali station and Kendriya Vidyalaya/Rangiya under Rangiya division. Further in Alipurduar division, 20 kwp capacity is being commissioned in Dalgaon station and 10 kwp each in Kalchini station, Dhubri station and Salakati station.

In the current financial year, to meet the energy requirements, NFR is all set to commission 1500 kwp capacity of solar roof top systems in its jurisdiction. These include 100 kwp in Silchar station, 200 kwp each in Guwahati station and Kamakhya station under Lumding divison. Apart from all this, 1000 kwp is planned to be commissioned in New Bongaigaon Workshop which is a major workshop under NFR.

During the time when energy prices have taken a sharp hit due to the o­ngoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, NFR is committed to utilize solar energy for meeting its energy requirements which will help in meeting power needs of all the stations and save precious expenditure for the Railways and the country apart from being environment friendly.

108 km of automatic signalling commissioned over NCR: highest in Indian Railways

37 Electronic Interlocking commissioned

Entire Broad Gauge network of NCR is now provided with Optical Fibre Cable

Year 2021-22 closed with significant achievements for North Central Railway in the field of upgrading signalling and telecommunication infrastructure. Through a total investment of about 317 crores in 2021-22, NCR stood first among all the zonal Railways in investing for technological upgradation. NCR completes major works like completion of 108 km of automatic signalling. This is about half of the automatic signalling commissioned all over Indian Railways (218 km). It includes 74 km of new commissioning and 34 km of replacement of old signalling. In addition to it, 37 new Electronic Interlocking (EI) were commissioned at different stations which is highest ever El commissioned in a single year and is about 9% of the total 421 EIs commissioned over Indian Railways. This includes an important feat of elimination of mechanical signalling by EI at 14 stations thereby improving safety aspects to manifold.

Improving safety in operations further, 10 Level crossings in NCR were interlocked during 2021-22. With this, total 395 LC gates have been interlocked over NCR. Another important milestone achieved was provision of Electric gates (technically called as Power operated lifting barrier) at 17 erstwhile mechanical gates.

Making strides towards passenger amenities and convenience, a total of 121.3 km of Optical Fibre Cable was commissioned during the year. With this all the Broad Gauge network of NCR has now been provided with OFC. This brings a significant improvement in communication system.

14 stations were provided with Wi-Fi connectivity thus a total of 296 stations of NCR are now Wi-Fi enabled.

In addition, Train Display board was commissioned at 7 stations: Jhinjhak, Shikohabad, Tundla, Datia, Orai, Jhansi and Banda. A total of 37 stations of NCR are now equipped with Train Display Board. 6 more stations were provided with coach display boards in 2021-22.

About automatic signalling system: There are two major types of signalling system used in Railways. First is absolute block system, in which there is o­ne train in between two stations at a time, and second train is permitted to enter o­nly when first train clears the block section. The portion between two stations is called as block section. An advancement of this system is provision of Intermediate Block Station (IBS), wherein the section is splitted into two subsections by providing an intermediate signal and thus two trains can be accommodated between two stations. Second type of signalling system is automatic signalling. In this system, signals are provided continuously after around 1-1.5 kilometers and there can be o­ne train in between two signals. Thus practically there may be many trains in between two stations, depending upon the number of automatic signals provided. Automatic signalling increases the line capacity to a great extent as more trains can be run within the same route using the existing track. It is used in busy sections of Indian Railways.