As part of its ‘Go Green’ initiative, the Southern Railway’s first solar-panel powered coach fitted to power was launched recently and it would soon commence its operation on the Coimbatore-Mayiladuthurai section in the Salem division.
Southern Railway General Manager Vashishta Jori launched the solar-powered coach in thepresence of Ind-Aussie Solar’s General Manager Balasubramani who was present on the occasion. The solar powered coach would be attached to the Coimbatore-Mayiladuthurai Jan Shatabdi express.
The cost incurred for the solar roof top in the coach was Rs six lakh and it provide a lot ofadvantages to the railways. With Southern Railways aggressively focusing on renewable energy, the South India’s first solar panel-fitted coach train “Go-Green Coach” is all set to commence its operation shortly after all trial runs from Coimbatore to Mettupalayam and Coimbatore to Mayiladuthurai were completed.
The advantage was that the coaches of the train would be lit from power generated by the rooftop solar panels installed on the train, a Southern Railway statement here today said. Ind-Aussie Solar (P) Limited, an Indian-Australian Joint Venture firm with its Indian Head office at Salem in Tamil Nadu has successfully completed the project for the Salem Division of the Southern Railway.
The Jan Shatabdi train was fitted with 16 panels of 300Wp on the roof top of the coach. This would be India’s first coach fitted with 4.8kW which would be able to self power all fans and lights of the coach, according to Mr Bala Palani, Director Research and Product development. Jan Shatabdi solar-powered train was planned for six non air-conditioned coaches, with each coach fitted with 16 solar panels. It would also charge the coach fitted batteries able to be used in case of no sunlight.
The Ind-Aussie’s engineering Manager Shanmugavadivel said the solar panels would provide electricity for lights and fans inside the coach during day and working towards extending the power capacity even for nights. However, enough power would not be generated to run air-conditioners.
By Baishakhi Dutta
