Diesel and Electrical Traction

rpmwu429 dt. 06.10.2021

Some important facts about HSD Oil Consumption and Traction Electricity for the understanding of all:

1. Rail technology is 6 times more fuel efficient than the road, our diesel locos consumes 1/6 quantity of HSD Oil as compared to road transport in carrying 1000 GTKM. I have personally calculated these figures. 

2. Railways consume only about 2.25% of HSD Oil of the national consumption of Diesel and Petrol put together. 

3. About 58.42% of our expenditure on HSD Oil goes back to the government in the form of Excise Duty, VAT and Green Cess. In 17 months from April 2020 to August 2021, SWR has paid back to the government ₹1009 Cr in the form of these taxes from the billed amount of ₹1727 Cr on purchase of HSD Oil, only ₹718 Cr (41.58%) has been our real expenditure. 

4. Figures of 2019-20, India had net 13.11 Lakh GWh electricity for supply to consumers. Rail Transport used only 19,577 GWh i.e. merely 1.52%.

5. 64.86% of the coal is used to generate electricity in the nation.

6. Railways monitor efficiency by means of SFC (Specific Fuel Consumption) for diesel traction and SEC (Specific Energy Consumption) for electrical traction. It is quantity of diesel in litres or electricity in units consumed for transportation of 1000 GTKM. 

Over SWR, the SFC for Goods is 2.52 Litres/1000 GTKM which is about ₹ 227.5 in terms of money, if taxes are excluded then this is about ₹ 95.

On the other hand, SEC is about 15 Units per 1000 GTKM which is about ₹120 considering average price of purchase of electricity @ ₹8 per unit. However these figures of SEC and cost of purchase of electricity may further be refined.

Regards

Raghuveer Prasad Meena