Mankhurd to be Mumbai's second green station on Central Railways

All lights at Mankhurd station are being converted to LED

Mankhurd railway station on the Harbour line is set to become the second green station on the Mumbai suburban line of the Central Railway. The first was Asangaon on the Mumbai-Kasara line. mid-day had also reported that the Western Railway's Santacruz and Ram Mandir (Oshiwara) railway stations were to be fully functional as solar powered stations.

A green station will mean it will be run entirely on solar and wind power. Mankhurd has been identified, as it has open space to install solar and wind panels.

Has required open space
"We have selected Mankhurd as the second green station as it has the required open space for the installation of various panels and related equipment," Central Railway Mumbai divisional manager SK Jain said.

The station was originally the north end terminus of the harbour line, but became a halt station after the line was extended to Navi Mumbai in the early 1990s. "We have recently embarked on a programme to convert all lights to LED, which will help significantly in power savings. The green station idea is also in line with this. After the successful implementation of Asangaon, Mankhurd will also be a green station and it will be so in this financial year," he added.

At Asangaon station, the sources of power include solar panels and windmills. The extra power generated from these resources is sent back to the grid.

Saving money for rlys
CR officials said Asangaon station is being operated on 10 kilowatts (kW) solar panel and two 5kW solar panels. There is also a windmill to the east of the station. All the utilities like, equipment in the booking office, lights, fans, automatic ticket vending machines (ATVM) and other appliances are run on this and it has not only helped the environment but has also saved the railways R11 lakh annually, on electricity and power bills.

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