Railway Ministry launches project to install Solar Panels in all Railway Buildings

The Union Railway Ministry has launched a project to install Solar Panels in all Railway Buildings in order to reduce expenditure on electricity
As part of the project, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu laid the foundation stone of one Megawatt (MW) solar power plant at Amritsar Railway station in Punjab.
Key Facts

• The power plant at Amritsar Railway station will be set up with a cost of 8 crore Rupees. It will annually produce 14 lakh units of power. It will save 1.40 crore Rupees for railway.
• The Union Railway Ministry is going to install such Solar Panels for harnessing free solar energy in all the Railway Building across the nation.
• Besides, Union Government is also focusing to produce solar energy from waste materials. This will help to reduce Railways expenditure.

Besides launching the solar power plant project, Union Railway Minister also announced to launch high-speed train service between Amritsar and New Delhi. It will be initiated following the successful trial run of Spanish-made Talgo, which became the fastest train in the country by clocking a speed of 180 km/hr.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2016