Western Railway distributes low-cost LED bulbs to employees

The Western Railway (WR) is distributing LED bulbs at subsidised rates to its over one lakh employees across all divisions, in keeping with the central domestic efficient lighting programme (DELP) scheme, a senior official said today.
The move, which was kickstarted by WR General Manager G C Agrawal on September 11, has received a very good response so far, with a large number of employees making a beeline to obtain the LED bulbs at the company's headquarters here, WR Chief PRO Sharat Chandrayan said.
The scheme is aimed at saving electricity and would be completed by October 31, 2015. Under the scheme, a maximum of ten 7-Watt LED bulbs, each of which can replace a 60-Watt incandescent bulb or an 18-Watt Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) at the same illumination level, would be distributed to the WR employees, Chandrayan said.

LED bulbs are a much cheaper and energy-efficient alternative to other lighting instruments.
"A reduction of 53 Watts per incandescent bulb is envisaged in connected load with an estimated saving of 155 units per annum per bulb, if used for eight hours a day. Similarly, a reduction of 11 Watts per CFL is envisaged in connected load with an estimated saving of 32 units per annum per CFL, if used for eight hours a day," he said.
Thus, the approximate payback period is only one month for the replacement of 60-Watt incandescent bulb and four months for the replacement of 18-Watt CFL, he added.

The cost of an LED bulb for Railway employees has been kept Rs 100 only (market price of the same being Rs 250 to Rs 300). The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) will provide maximum ten LED bulbs to each valid identity- holding Railway employee, the official claimed.
The Ministry of Power is facilitating the distribution of 7-Watt energy-efficient LED bulbs under the DELP in collaboration with various Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). Under this scheme, LED bulbs are being procured in bulk and distributed to public at a lower rate.