Context:

• Indian Railways aims to achieve carbon neutrality by planting three billion trees before 2030.

What is Carbon neutrality?

• Carbon neutrality means having a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks. 

What steps are taken by railways towards carbon neutrality?

• Tree Plantation: Neem, pilkhan, jamun on both sides of the tracks,
• Hybrid electric Locomotives: To completely remove the diesel engines, it has initiated the development of battery-operated hybrid electric locomotives and ethanol-blended fuel.
  • These locomotives are equipped with regenerative braking features capable of generating electricity during braking action
• Harnessing solar power: Indian Railways has planned to utilize its unused vacant land parcels for setting up solar plants. 
  • There is about 51,000 hectares of railway land that have the potential of installing 20 gigawatt (GW) land-based solar plants.
• Automatic coach-washing plants: The railways are setting up automatic coach-washing plants at all rail depots to minimize the use of water for cleaning trains.
• Use of LED lights: A total of 1,327 railway stations have now been provided with LED illumination. Also, all newly manufactured coaches are fitted with LED lights. This is likely to have a saving of around INR6,000 per coach per annum.

News Source: Economic Times