Nuclear plants to power railways, says Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

The Railway Ministry is in touch with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Ministry of Power (MoP) for allocation of nuclear power to meet part of its traction power requirement, he said

New Delhi: The growing power requirements of Indian Railways (IR) are likely to be met with clean and reliable nuclear power, for which the Power Ministry has been approached, said Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The Railway Ministry is in touch with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Ministry of Power (MoP) for allocation of nuclear power to meet part of its traction power requirement, he said in a recent reply in Rajya Sabha.

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He said Indian Railways has been exploring sourcing power from existing and upcoming nuclear power plants. He said nuclear power being a clean and reliable source will help the railways, reducing the dependence on fossil fuels, and thereby lessening carbon emissions. On fare concession offered to passengers, the Minister said that Indian Railways gave a subsidy of Rs 56,993 crore on passenger tickets in 2022-23.

The Minister said that this amounts to a concession of 46 per cent on average, to every person, travelling on railways. In other words, if the cost of providing service is Rs 100, then the ticket costs Rs 54 only, according to the Minister.

“This subsidy is continuing for all passengers. Further, concessions beyond this subsidy amount are continuing for many categories, including Persons with disabilities (Divyangjans) and 11 categories of patients and eight categories of students,” he said.

The Union Minister said the number of passengers availing the concession in different classes and different trains over various Zonal Railways varies from year to year. During the financial years 2020-21 to 2024-25 (up to December 2024), approximately 2,357.8 crore passengers of all ages (including senior citizens) travelled on Indian Railways, he said.

He also highlighted that for the ease of travel of the elderly and women, the railways earmarks a combined reservation quota of six to seven lower berths per coach in sleeper class, four to five lower berths per coach each in Air Conditioned 3 tier (3AC) and three to four lower berths per coach in Air Conditioned 2 tier (2AC) classes (depending on the number of coaches of that class in the train) for senior citizens, female passengers of 45 years of age and above and pregnant women.