Indraprastha to supply CNG for railway engines

Delhi-based Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) is looking forward to supplying large amounts of compressed natural gas (CNG) to Indian Railways. This will open a new market for the state-owned company, which so far is present only in the gas distribution market for industries, homes and vehicles around Delhi.

The Indian Railways is planning to convert the machinery of 200 of its diesel-run locomotives into CNG, the fuel for which will be supplied by Indraprastha. A company official told DNA Money that the northern division of the Railways had initiated a pilot project in 2007 to convert its diesel-fired locomotives into CNG-fired ones.

Indraprastha was to supply the CNG for the project. The company supplied the required cascade fitted with CNG high-pressure cylinders, high-pressure gas pipelines and others to the Railways. It also installed a CNG filling station at Shakurbasti Diesel Shed, the official said.

Earlier, Indraprastha was supplying 1,000 kg of CNG per day to the Shakurbasti shed, the requirement at which went up to 10,000 kg and then 15,000 kg per day. Now with the Railways planning to run 200 of its locomotives on CNG, a huge market is opening up for Indraprastha.

“The Railways hasn’t given a date but it plans to launch on a commercial scale very soon. As soon as it decides, we will go ahead with setting up some dedicated CNG filling stations for the Railways,” the official said. Industry sources said CNG-run locomotives cost 60% less than diesel ones for generating the same amount of power.

Another option is dual-fired engines, which utilise diesel and CNG in equal proportion. Here, the cost savings are 30-35% and the engines are also more environment-friendly.
Indraprastha currently has 166 CNG stations from where it supplies gas to road transport vehicles. It fuels over 2,28,000 vehicles, including 11,500 buses, 80,000 three-wheelers and more than 1,22,000 private cars, said the company’s official website. It also supplies online cooking gas to 1,30,000 households in and around New Delhi.

On the city gas distribution front, Indraprastha has drawn up major plans to expand its network. It was recently authorised by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board to supply gas in the National Capital Territory and was given three years’ marketing exclusivity and 25 years’ network exclusivity for city gas distribution.