For many of us the Railway Budget has ensured that, inspite of rising prices we will still pay the same fares. On the environmental front, the Budget has taken the green energy initiatives a step further with measures such as setting up of the Railway Energy Management Company. The REMC is to harness the potential of solar and wind energy, a woefully belated but nevertheless welcome step.

The Union Ministry of Railways proposes to utilise wind energy to electrify 1,000 level crossings across the country. This may sound exciting but given the total number of level crossings — 31,856, out which 13,530 are unmanned — the immediate priority should probably have been to ensure public safety and increase the number of manned crossings, as 40 per cent of the level-crossing accidents in India occur at unmanned crossings. In addition the ministry could have been a little more ambitious and aimed at electrifying at least 5,000 crossings.

Other steps included the deployment of improved and efficient locomotive variants that save energy. The Railway Budget is an apt occasion to showcase the ambition of the railways, and Union Minster for Railways Pawan Kumar Bansal could have used the opportunity to aggressively promote Indian Railways as a green organisation, and in the process help improve its image.

No new notable development has taken place that can have a significant impact on the reduction of carbon footprint of the railways. The appointment of a Chair at Delhi under the current Budget, to promote research in the reduction of carbon footprint of the railways may change this for the better. But the environment commitment of the railways is marred by inconsistencies. For instance, last year the then Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi made a similar announcement to electrify 200 stations and 1,000 level-crossings with renewable energy. But, on the ground that is yet to happen.

Similarly, bio-toilets for trains developed jointly by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and Indian Railways earned the praise of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as the concept promised to keep the world’s largest railway network from dirtying the countryside and preventing track corrosion. However, we are still to use it in today’s trains on a regular basis, and now the railways have extended the deadline of implementing the toilets by 2016-2017. The trials for the new toilets in nine trains are throwing up a variety of issues such as clogging, but here public awareness too needs to be done simultaneously in order to ensure successful implementation.

At times when fuel prices are sky-rocketing and with the Government having permitted oil companies to sell bulk diesel at market prices, the railways are directly affected. The Indian Railways’ initiative to run trains on bio-diesel aimed to address this and as a part of the project the Pune division of the Central Railways had planted over seven lakh Jatropha saplings to use them for making bio-fuel.

However, the plan had to be scrapped, as the Jatropha plants did not grow even a year after they were planted in various parts of the division.The use of the biofuel reduces diesel consumption and proves economical in the long run. The bio-fuel can be used on trains without making any change in the engine and it can also be mixed with diesel so that less diesel will be required to run the engine. There will also be reduction in air pollution because of the use of bio-fuel. However, now since the project in Pune has failed, Central Railways is identifying a new location for Jatropha plantations.

These issues display a pattern of haphazard efforts towards the cause of environment and the lack of a methodical approach. In developed countries, Governments highlight the environmental good of train travel in terms of a lower carbon footprint. For instance, Amtrak in the US advertises to its customers that it is energy-efficient and that travelling by rail contributes less per passenger mile to greenhouse gas emissions than either cars or airplanes. According to the US Department of Energy data, Amtrak is almost 14 per cent more efficient than domestic airline travel and 31 per cent more efficient than auto travel on a per-passenger-mile basis. Amtrak can be a good case study for the Indian Railways even in aspects such as recycling. Annually Amtrak recycles more than 9,800 tonnes of steel parts, 2,25,000 gallons of used oil, and 3,00,000 pounds of paper from its facilities.

Examples such as those given above are not a result of coincidence but that of committed planning and execution. The Indian Railways’ claim to fame cannot be because of its size, but it should be for its path- breaking contribution to the cause of environment.