The North-Eastern railways (NER), one of the 17 railway zones in India, held a bid to support its plan of energy conservation and environment preservation by installing solar power panels and energy saving LED lighting to its facilities.

According to NER spokesperson, Ashok Kumar, NER has replaced its 90 W ceiling fan with more efficient 60W ones and installed high mast lights in open area of its stations. Also, the authorization has upgrade six station signage displays and its office with LED lights.

Kumar added that meanwhile, the NER also plans to replace 40W fixtures with 56,500 LED T5 tube lights in the near future.

Two of the rail stations completed the installation of LED lighting while NER also seeks to power up to 512 manned level crossings with solar energy. One of the station was awarded as “Energy Efficient Station” by the Ministry of Power in 2014. NER has saved about 3.2 million energy units, which is worth about INR 23.3 million (US$346,523).

Similarly, other railways are following the trend. According to Chief Area Manager of one of the local railway station, Northern Railways (NR) will install solar powered lights and LED lightings too.