Railways to end Diesel Engines

New Delhi Nov 22: In a Bid to increase the speed of the train and to reduce the fuel bills incurred Indian Railways has decided to phase out diesel run trains. The railway Minister Piyush Goyal has said that "Diesel-run trains will soon become history in India and Phasing out diesel locomotives and replacing them with electric engines will help the country reduce carbon emissions and the railways save Rs 10,500 crore annually".


"We don't want to burden our passengers and freight customers by raising costs. Through bringing efficiency in the existing system, we can reduce operational costs and provide better services to our users.We'll only use diesel locomotives for backup." he added.

He said the above remarks while speaking at the FICCI event.Government officials said that the railways has fast-tracked plans to have a 100% electrified rail network.The government has set a target to electrify the remaining 30,000 Km of railway lines in next 4 years.


Sources said that the electrification would be privatised and later the government would pay lease and operate the lines. The government hopes that a high-speed rail network of 11,000 Km would also benefit the people and it would reduce the import of diesel and the cost of the projects would also be reduced as more and more companies would come forward to build such projects.