Greenwashing in Indian Railways? | '100% Electrification Will Result in Suboptimal Use of Assets'

[@sankhadipchowdhury8327]

Energy Security angle has not been given consideration in this discussion. Majority of our diesel is imported however energy from coal do not require minimal import

[@svrkprabhakar]

Suboptimal resource use? Whats the point of using useless diesel assets when its not needed and bad!!!

[@dheerajpimoli9539]

Also these diesel engines require lot more maintenance and they degrade over time producing less power. The rate failure is also higher in diesel engines.

[@lightning_8340]

There are always counter opinions to any change, especially from the old guard. It seems this Gentleman has an axe to grind with the government. This person will also resisit the adoption of electric cars, yet we see that a lot of delhi's pollution is due to vehicular pollution. The future is definitely switching to renewable energy sources, especially as energy security threats arise.

[@AMehra-im1gr]

"The future is definitely switching to renewable energy sources, especially as energy security threats rise" How? By switching to electric vehicles and electrifying all railway routes which in turn consume electricity mostly generated from burning coal? Over 75% of electricity generated in India comes from burning coal with the proportion only rising, not falling.

[@vikramjayanth2289]

The government should look into selling the diesel or retrofit to other countries. Also, the next step is to reduce coal dependency for generating electricity.

[@santosh_979]

He has explained it's not easy

[@aasrithchalla8775]

The mindset of these old school babus brought the country down. Even with electrification we can still use diesel locos.

[@aryaman05]

Back it up with example, where is diesel loco used due to electric ones being incapacitated ? Bring country down, from where it was in 2014 and earlier, really ?

[@AMehra-im1gr]

​@@aryaman05 absolutely, we must give a mouthful and an earful to these stupid youths of today. They have no such thing as the understanding of complexities.

[@VivekwhuVivekwhuVivekwhu]

As things stand, 100% rail electrification will transfer pollution to the power stations burning polluting fuels. However, reducing dependence on imported oil with use of local coal will be a benefit on the balance of trade, which is still overall in deficit. I bet the same crowd will be against more nuclear and hydro power to keep India as a Third World state and stand in the way of Viksit Bharat. JAI BHARAT JAI BIHAR!

[@patmclaughlin107]

@1:36 Maybe this uncle wants to smell the diesel fumes.

[@phil1press]

…got to disagree with this guy. Railway has to look forward to the future. Future is with modern electric trains. Sure, there are questions about what to do with old diesel locomotives. Like dealing with any issues, figure out ways to get rid of these old locomotives...

[@sujitdsouza]

The IR has successfully converted diesel traction locomotives to electric traction locomotives in their in house depot repair centres. Therefore the life of the diesel traction locomotives is extended for their intended lifespan or even further in some cases.

[@eliot4365]

Coal-fired electric propulsion versus diesel-electric propulsion. System efficiency of the former? 25 percent. System efficiency of the latter? 35 percent. None of the commenters so far seems to have watched even 10 minutes of the video.

[@sujitdsouza]

@@eliot4365 What really is system efficiency and how does it actually translate to costs incurred per km for any given electric freight or diesel powered locomotive ? Even though IR buys diesel in bulk, meaning real bulk, the fluctuations in crude oil prices does have an adverse effect on operating costs of the railways. One way to look at capex spent in IR to see impact of changes undertaken to significantly reduce the operating costs of the railways. Apart from the electrification of the Indian rail network and the purchase of electric locomotives, currently concentrated on freight traffic (WAP12 is an instance) there was some news on conversion of diesel locomotives to electric locomotives to enable them to be operational in the network. IR is also reducing expenses in improving the methods of the sourcing of electricity for their network which would only further reduce costs along with the addition of renewal energy power plants to the grid mix. The IR has a lot of real estate in terms of railway stations. Installing some kind of renewable energy power generation to say 20-30% of railway stations in non urban areas should enable the IR to use net metering of electricity generated by feeding the excess power generated to the grid. Solar seems to be the fad inspite of the pretty limited efficiency but low installation and operational costs, there ought to other renewable sources of energy that can be investigated given the scale of the project if fully implemented across India. Suburban train stations with intracity networks ought to have all the stations covered. The renewable energy component in India's energy mix is increasing with the addition of solar, wind and nuclear power plants. Therefore electrification is an extremely beneficial policy of the Indian Railways.

[@susangomes9373]

Diesel loco will be use in war time when enemy knock out power infra of railways.Just like in Ukraine they have bring out Steam loco when Russia knock out there power infra.

[@SampadAI-y5c]

Pretty outdated and myopic vision because he is an expert on railways not running a country. It will happen to the most of us and also when we get old too when we will be outdated and our ideas not as relevant because of changing times. Even Einstein eventually was outpaced by quantum mechanics even if he was the one of the earliest person to indulge in the field and kick started it in 1905 ( he got productively distracted by relativity for the next 10-15 years) 1) Flawed scientific arguments - he considered the efficiency of the full electricity cycle for electric locos to be 25% but for diesel locos he just considered just the efficiency of the diesel loco but not the transportation of diesel (transporting electricity is one of the lowest in world for India at 80%, impossible for diesel transportation to be that efficient even if diesel engines were more efficient, the over all efficiency cannot be 35% in full diesel cycle - forget considering that oil is shipped from middle east and coal from Indian mines) 2A) What about the added value of the bridging the technical gap of India's electric loco engineering ecosystem and making it competitive to other leaders in the world? How did he take that cost into account. It is pretty myopic to not see the advantages and compounding effect of higher technical capacity in both designing and manufacturing them. 2B) Besides, how about the value added to a adjacent industries like steel and copper? 2C) How about the value of employment generated due to the electrification? How about less noise pollution for people living along railroads? 3) What about the energy security angle which is immense but of course a railway expert is unlikely to have a global holistic understanding of all of it. If there is another big war in middle east (which is extremely unstable) or a world war (not unlikely with Russia and Ukraine engaged), and we face oil crunch due to price or say some country like our beloved neighbors blocking our access to them via sea, then we should have enough stored crude oil to fuel the economy and the army. If we run on electric loco which use the coal mined in our own mines inside the country, then we could spend the reserved crude oils on running the economy longer. 4) Another very important and intangible argument is the effect on public perception - if govt. asks people to move to EV but people see trains passing making noise and shooting dark black smoke everywhere, will they adopt EV? Will they adopt green transition? Govt. needs to show the path by leading it. 5) Another point is diesel locos can easily be retrofitted to run on electric as inherently they use diesel to generate electricity onboard to drive the electric drives. As to what will happen to the locos is probably not as much of a concern as it is in the mind of someone who operated with fund crunches and had to make them as efficient as possible in his time - which happens - if you grew up in poverty, you can't easily replace even items that you haven't used in decades because you think maybe i can use it in future and you hold on to it. 6) Finally, the railway network is also growing with DFC and some of these locos may find use there or remain as standby. Or worst case, they can be recycled or repurposed to be exported at cheaper prices to other countries.

[@ravinagaraj7003]

By electrifying a line, I assume the Railways now has a choice of operating a Diesel or Electric loco on the line. In this case, why should the IR not consider the complete electrification as an opportunity to optimize loco scheduling instead of as a mandate to retire the Diesels? If Gatishakti is used appropriately, an optimum balance can be reached between Loco asset utilization, fuel import, pollution and Electricity generation transition plans, since all these aspects are different arms of the Central Government.

[@AMehra-im1gr]

Did you even listen (or understand) what he said on 'reducing pollution' being the reason given for making all routes electrified? Did you even listen to what he said on the sources of electricity generation? Most of it comes from coal. And the percentage has only risen, not fallen.

[@ravinagaraj7003]

@@AMehra-im1gr Yes, heard and understood him. So, in the net, there will be no change to pollution levels, whichever way the railways goes, until India has a different electricity generation mix. His main contention was that with the excuse of mitigating pollution, IR was 'stabling' Diesels. I am arguing that electrification of a line does not mean that Diesel stock should be stabled (I am agreeing with his premise). Rather, these capital assets should be used to increase availability of tractive power.

[@SB57-wq1xs]

At 3:45 he himself says that it is not about whether electric traction is better or diesel traction, it is to do with the extremely fast rate of electrification leading to wastage of assets i.e. diesel locomotives. But people in comment section are going on about the same issue which is not being duscussed here. The issue is that suddenly 2600-3000 locomotives (which still have long life) will be useless. Government plans to 1. Sell some of them to African countries- it is very hard because most of the locomotives are broad gauge which has to be converted to cape gauge which is less narrower. Converting metre gauge to cape gauge is much easier. 15:36 2. Use them for disaster management- which is absurd because of the argument at 13:03 Also, the problem of unavaiability of electric locos whie diesel locos are not being used at 22:54 Peope in comment section seems to have come with pre-prepared arguments which they are posting here.

[@dwirajesh]

A diesel locomotive can we use on electric lines not vice versa we can still continue using diesel locomotives till they become of the scrappable age ! Moreover electrictification of the tracks is futuristic...i am sure renewbles will the the major source of electricity generation in the future ..it's right to get ready for it ...this old gentleman is from a generation in which no great movement happened towards modernisation of the huge railways that we have ...subsidising passenger fares and putting all burden on the freight was the norm...no wonder we have the worst trains of all the world ..we have seen immense urgency in the last 10 years or so..and it's welcome ...i am sure lalu was his fav railway minister...😅

[@railbhakt_]

@@dwirajesh When you don't have valid points u start personal attacks 🤣, god forbid if you are ever involved in a derailment it is a DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE which clears the mess.

[@ashoks5317]

The Vande Bharath express is due to the bold decision of General Manager Sudanshu Mani and his team. All others were Jokers

[@tvm73827]

Well said. Most government employees have no incentive to take any risk. Just push paper and collect handsome pension. Only Sri Mani ji had the guts to take such a big risk and now the whole country is enjoying the benefits of Vande Bharath trains.

[@nmohanraj1]

The Hindu paper now a days can be used as Toilet Paper. RK RK...

[@dwirajesh]

Completely agree 😅😅😅

[@palashchoudhury5565]

Electricity: 80% Diesel: 20% Dedicated Freight Corridor = Diesel Only Push Pull Train Only Train Width: 2.8m Top Speed = 200 km Increase Train Length = 20 Coach Siting Facing each othr Station Distance: 50 km

[@Lambda-Gamma]

Put them on sale and there are many countries who will buy them happily.

[@bestofsatish]

India must add tracks at rate of 5000km/year. But there is no progress there as they get into hurdles of land acquisition which stall all development. Only way out is build tracks over the existing tracks like double stacked tracks which can be dedicated to high speed trains travelling at 150km/hr. Thats the only solution i see. Our bullet train dream will be achieved only by 2035 which is another 10 years away

[@chaitanyak.n.4768]

Our bullet train dream will be achieved by end of 2026.

[@navan1087]

Is there a hurdle for land acquisition for railway? I dont think so except may be in metro limits.Even in Mumbai suburban there is land available besides.

[@minerjopeace5915]

Apart from the metallurgical strength of the tracks, the curvature of the lines currently established is also a very big deterrent into increasing the speeds above 180 km per hour. So merely building tracks on tracks doesn't help for a high speed bullet train. Even to test the speed of the locomotives and the train about 180 km per hour there is only one or two sections of 30 or 50 km which are entirely straight in nature where you can achieve those speeds.

[@VivekwhuVivekwhuVivekwhu]

This may be the solution as BHARAT is very densely populated full of people who will need to be bought out. However, land will still be needed to straighten the tracks built for donkey speed by the British Empire who built them for the purpose of looting. Consider the joke at Nagpur where the N-S and E-W tracks meet, the very centre of BHARAT. JAI BHARAT JAI BIHAR!

[@pragoyoutube]

China has moved to 100% electrification of its rail network. How did they overcome Diesel Dilemma?

[@navan1087]

No, China is somewhere around 85%.

[@VivekwhuVivekwhuVivekwhu]

No, China is 75% electrified, so BHARAT is now well ahead. China is a world leader in high speed rail, while BHARAT will lead the G20 in 100% rail electrification. JAI BHARAT JAI BIHAR!

[@navan1087]

@@VivekwhuVivekwhuVivekwhu Another thing is our network connectivity is very good compared to China.

[@railbhakt_]

The comment section is fun ~ meltdowns galore! This is what happens when you refuse to consider an alternative viewpoint, which is often the truth.

[@maheshpant518]

Mr. Balkesari is a respected railway veteran and my regards to him. This obsession with Diesel locomotives was and is completely misplaced. Indeed he should seriously think if the obsession did any good to anybody? What about the huge cost of distorting the organisation's working and creating a Cold War on the issue of electrification throughout several decades. Indeed this idling of diesel locomotives can be viewed as their unnecessary production due to departmentalism in the first place. All railwaymen including him are guilty of feeding the disease called departmentalism in Indian Railways. On Vande bharat, please understand that the improvements being appreciated can be realised at much lower cost. We are gaining nothing out of the extra money pumped into these trains.

[@raktimbhattacharjee2763]

Comment section is full of clowns who have zero idea about the terms "feasibility" and operating ratio! 😂😂

[@prashanthb6521]

Could you please train the clowns with some knowledge else you too will be considered the same.

[@santosh_979]

Still gauge conversion not complete. Kachiguda Khandwa gauge conversion not complete. Meter Gauge track removed but Broad Gauge work pending

[@anitrai3515]

Learned so much insights. Thanks Sir.

[@prashanthb6521]

I think burning coal is relatively more efficient than importing and burning diesel. Gradually the railways will be running on Nuclear or solar power. The old diesel locomotives can be given to African countries or neighbouring countries as part of diplomacy. They can also be sold back to USA where they are still operating diesel locos. Just my 2cent observations. I am not a railway guy.

[@santosh_979]

Out of sight out of mind

[@omcarterios]

Mr. Balekar is a negative person. The Indian Railways cannot and should not remain in the era of diesel engines. I am glad about the electrification, as it benefits both the environment and the railway economy. The people of India deserve better railways.

[@mehtapramod23]

WE CAN CHANGE DISEL ENGINE TO ELECTRIC ENGINE AND WE CAN SELL DISEL ENGINE TO OTHER COUNTRIES

[@mehtapramod23]

A DISEL ENGINE CAN BE CONVERTED IN ELECTRIC ENGINE

[@aryaman05]

When foreign fuel stops flowing in, Bharat railway continues to run, no matter what.... Think ! If anything, rail electrification should have been executed at a much higher rate, and if diesel loco proves to be less efficient, Dump it. Learn from Carnegie, on what he did to a brand new steel plant, after learning it was less worthy ! A veteran of Indian railway appears to be poorly informed on the ridiculously high cost of maintaining a diesel fleet, that too in the Indian context, and never mind the geo-political impact of foreign fuel dependency.

[@mehtapramod23]

ALL FUTURE RAIL SHOULD BE HIGH SPEED IF WE WANT TO BE SUPER POWER UP TO 2047

[@mehtapramod23]

100 % ELECTRIFICATION IS GOOD AND ALTEMATE MOVE FOR FUTURE

[@baluadvani]

diesel generators are best for remote places like kashmir/ladakh

[@VivekwhuVivekwhuVivekwhu]

No doubt diesel backups will be needed for winter breakdowns in these mountainous areas. Then there are the effects of monsoon season. The monsoon does happen for 3/12 months of the year, does it not, so an advanced developed nation should be ready and not be caught with its pants down, every year, right? JAI BHARAT JAI BIHAR!

[@karolbagh3793]

Leftist Balakesari 😂😂😂

[@RajivTripathigrnoida]

This man stands rusted with age. How can he split the change and argue for diesel consumption? He is simply missing steam engines. Our educated stuff is really our curse and burden.

[@santosh_979]

Vande Bharat is just Shatabdi express with automatic doors

[@VivekwhuVivekwhuVivekwhu]

Have you tried it, or are you stuck in your petrol/diesel car breathing all that brain-damaging fumes? Enjoy! JAI BHARAT JAI BIHAR!

[@dheerajpimoli9539]

What a idiotic thing to say yes the current speed are slower but that is not due to loco but due to track

[@santosh_979]

Old stories

[@railbhakt_]

People with zero experience of working in Indian Railways or going in-depth into the issue are trolling Mr Balakesari. I pity them. For a country like India a healthy mix of both diesel and electric traction is required. And those who think only electric traction is modern, read a bit about the 4500 HP and 6000 HP locos of Wabtec in use by IR.

[@VivekwhuVivekwhuVivekwhu]

I wonder why Switzerland has 100% rail electrification? I bet your ilk would want to take your family for a holiday there rather than diesel fume filled destinations in BHARAT, right? So, while MAGA wins in the US, this crowd shouts for "MAKE INDIA THIRD WORLD AGAIN, MITWA!"

[@dwirajesh]

We pity u ...

[@prashanthb6521]

Instead of burnol comments can you please explain for us ordinary people ?

[@apuwdm2]

Wonderful interview of a real expert with sensible views.

[@salimadc]

Dear Radhakrishnan, I had the pleasure of watching a thought-provoking interview that offered valuable insights into critical issues. The thoughtful and relevant questions posed during the conversation sparked my interest, and I eagerly look forward to similar discussions that will educate responsible citizens. The interview with Balakesari was particularly insightful, shedding light on the electrification process, diesel locomotives, and coal-based power generation. His comments highlighted the importance of scientific, need-based, and farsighted policy-making in these areas. Moreover, his revelations about the government's funding for railway safety and efficiency programs exposed the weaknesses in our financial management. To create effective policies and plans, our government should conduct thorough, scientific studies of each field and prioritize needs accordingly. Unfortunately, it seems that this approach is often overlooked in favor of political or corporate interests. Thank you for sharing this enlightening interview. I hope to see more discussions that illuminate the needs of our great nation.

[@VivekwhuVivekwhuVivekwhu]

Yes, we all must give heartfelt thanks for a very revealing and informative old man syndrome. "In my days we trekked for days barefoot to get the diesel trains, just to catch a whiff of diesel fumes", so we should do the same. JAI BHARAT JAI BIHAR!

[@raghunandansrinivasan773]

Interesting perspective that could be well researched to re-evaluate this initiative (complete electrification). Thanks for these insights.

[@VivekwhuVivekwhuVivekwhu]

Yes, let's all enjoy the diesel fumes a bit longer. It sure beats alcohol and its FREE, right Bruv? JAI BHARAT JAI BIHAR!