Category Thematic Areas

200 Years of Passenger Rail Travel: A Call for India to Upgrade Its Tracks

The year 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of passenger travel by rail. While horses used to drag heavy loads along parallel rails, initially of wood and later of steel, at the beginning of the industrial revolution, the arrival of steam locomotives changed transportation forever. On September 27, 1825, a locomotive built by George Stephenson pulled 11 wagons of people and 20 wagons of coal a distance of some 26 miles from Darlington to Stockton along steel tracks (these places are about two hours by car from Manchester). That inaugurated travel by rail.

Powering India’s Net Zero Goals with Renewable Energy

Three years ago at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Glasgow, India declared a Net Zero emissions pathway goal by 2070.

Reaching this objective will require phasing down coal-based power generation and increasing reliance on renewable, non-fossil energy sources by more than 20 percent above the present level.

With growing cooling loads exacerbated by climate change-led urban heating, renewable energy supply will be imperative to meet peak electricity demand. This means solar and wind energy have to be backed up by energy storage options such as battery-operated energy systems to supply power.

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