Maharashtra's toy train stations turn green

The four stations of Central Railway's Matheran Hill Railway in Maharashtra's Raigad district have turned "green" with the installation of solar power and wind energy plants, an official said on Friday.

Sunil Udasi, the Chief Public Relations Officer, Central Railway said in a statement that on the installation of Green Energy System, the generation capacity of each system at four stations - Jummapatti, Waterpipe, and Aman Lodge is 75-80 kWh, while at Matheran, it is 680-690 kWh per month.

All these four stations are now provided with a solar power plant of capacity 500-1000 Wp and windmill of capacity 6.1 KWp at Matheran including energy efficient LED lights and fans.

The electric supply from the renewable sources will bring down the hill railway station's power bill drastically resulting in savings of Rs. 2.07 lakh per year, besides reducing its carbon footprints.

The Matheran Hill Railway is narrow-gauge heritage railway in Maharashtra.

A delight to the tourists and the route to the summer destination for Mumbaikars, the line covers a distance of 21 km, cutting a swathe through dense forest in the Western Ghats from Neral to Matheran.