New Delhi: In a setback to railway minister Piyush Goyal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the national transporter to not rush ahead with its drive for 100% electrification of rail tracks.
According to media reports, the prime minister apparently delivered his categorical snub to the hasty plan during a recent review meeting. In December 2017, The Wire too had questioned the chaotic hurry over the electrification of rail tracks.
Goyal said last November that the national transporter had targeted to electrify the remaining 30,000 kilometres of rail tracks in the next four years – ahead of schedule – at an expected cost of Rs 30,000-35,000 crore.
“We are giving a re-look to the ways of speeding up the electrification process of rail lines across the country. The cost on account of power is quite less and so we can do a lot of savings in that,” Goyal said.
The railways expects to save Rs 11,500 crore annually by phasing out diesel locomotives.
Goyal’s announcement, however, had raised questions over the future of GE’s Marhaura diesel locomotive project in Bihar, where the company is setting up a factory at an estimated cost of Rs 2,053 crore, with a limited equity contribution from the railways. GE has to supply 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower with high-level performance guarantees as per the agreement signed with the national transporter.
In view of the 100% electrification plan, Goyal had in September asked the railways to review the GE project.
The move prompted GE to issue a strongly-worded statement that scrapping the project would have a “serious impact on job creation and skills development and cause the government to incur substantial costs.”
As per a new report published by Indian Express on Monday, Modi raised questions over the 100% electrification policy by citing the massive working infrastructure already in place for diesel, the other mode of traction.
The PM was of the view that premature idling of in-service rolling-stock assets from the diesel stable was not a good idea. The Indian Railways have around 5,800 working diesel locomotives.
“Electrification is a long-term process. Its timeframe has to depend on the budget. These things do not happen immediately. The diesel stock that we have has a certain life, and it (the changeover) will take time,” the newspaper quoted the prime minister as saying in the recent review meeting, citing some unidentified sources.
One major takeaway for the Railway Board from the meeting was that the “100% electrification” policy was to be put on hold, without missing the yearly physical targets for electrification as and when decided every year on a need basis, the news report said.
The message that railways got from the meeting was that the prime minister was more interested in the national transporter achieving its yearly budgetary expenditure targets towards electrification and other capital spends.
“The electrification plan should be annual target-based. Budget allocation-based annual commitments for electrification should be taken up,” the paper quoted another official as saying.
The railway has already announced plans to electrify its entire network by 2021-22.
Significantly, Goyal came out with the proposal to expedite electrification of rail tracks at a time when oil PSUs have started work on India’s largest refinery in Maharashtra to meet the country’s future demand for petroleum products.
The proposed refinery is estimated to cost as much as Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Railway consumes two billion litres of diesel annually. If it phases out diesel locomotives, this supply will become surplus.
Like Goyal, transport minister Nitin Gadkari is also keen on phasing out petrol and diesel driven automobiles. If he has his way, only electric vehicles will run on Indian roads in 2030.
Like Goyal, Gadkari appeared to not take into account the investment made in infrastructure to meet petrol and diesel demand of the country.