Environmentally responsible actions carried out locally will go a long way in reducing the impact of global warming, said P.V.Vaidialingam, Divisional Railway Manager, here on Friday.
He was delivering the presidential address at the seminar on ‘Green Energy' organised by the Electrical Department of Southern Railway at Zonal Railway Training Institute here.
He said that the large scale gauge conversion carried out by the railways based on uni-gauge policy helps the railways become energy efficient and also has a positive environmental impact.
Stressing the need to use more renewable energy sources, M.C. Murali, Chief Electrical Engineer, Southern Railway, listed out various steps taken by the Southern Railways to achieve this goal. He said that new generation AC locomotives capable of regenerating energy during braking were deployed on Chennai – Bangalore sector which saves about 12 per cent of total energy consumed by these trains per round trip.
G.Subbaiyan, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi, presented paper on ‘Green Buildings' and V. Arunmozhi Selvan, also of NIT-T, presented a paper on bio-fuels.
The experiences of the Railways in the field construction of green buildings and production and utilization of bio- fuel were also shared in the seminar. Vishnukant, Deputy Chief Electrical Engineer explained the efforts initiated by South Central Railway in construction of Rail Nirman Nilayam - a Green Building at Secunderabad. P. Raveendra Babu, detailed the experience of Southern Railway in the use of bio-diesel being produced at Loco works, Perambur. The seminar was organised as part of the commemoration of Year of Green Energy 2011-2012.Prizes were distributed to the winners of the drawing competition conducted on theme ‘Green Energy' on the occasion.
