Central Railway, Mumbai, in association with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Tata Power have announced the launch of their novel green initiative for promoting e-mobility in Mumbai. As a part of this initiative, charging points for electrical vehicles will be made available at all important railway stations in the island city, the suburbs and adjoining Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

The charging points will cover a wide geographical area and offer a seamless experience for electric vehicle (EV) owners to charge their vehicles through a pay-per-use model. The collaborative venture aims to boost the overall e-mobility sector and encourage green mobility around railway stations, which are transport modal hubs.

In the first phase, contracts have already been awarded for railway stations including Thane, Dadar, Parel and Byculla. For the second phase, tenders have been floated for the next set of stations including Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT)), Bhandup, Panvel and Kalyan. Areas at the entry-exit points of railway stations with parking facilities have been earmarked for the charging stations as per availability.

“A transition to e-mobility is one of the best solutions for combatting the challenges of air pollution and the climate crises with electrification being a flexible, energy efficient and sustainable way to decarbonize the economy,” said Atul Bagai, Head of UNEP’s India Office. “India is taking a step in the right direction towards achieving a cleaner transport sector through this tri-party initiative. We are proud to be working closely with Central Railway and Tata Power to leverage cleaner energy sources and nudge India towards adopting them more widely.”

Robin Kalia, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of the Central Railway of Mumbai, said, “An EV charging station has been installed at Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CMT) in partnership with TATA Power and UNEP. We plan to extrapolate this model for installing EV charging stations at all major Railway Stations under Mumbai division. This endeavour owes its successful implementation to the strategic leadership of Shri Shalabh Goel, Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai.”

Commenting on this partnership, Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director of Tata Power, said, “We are extremely glad to collaborate with the UNEP and Central Railway for our clean mobility initiatives. This partnership is important for us as it will demonstrate our commitment to provide greener and cleaner e-mobility solutions to consumers in the Mumbai, capital city of Maharashtra.”

The expansion of charging points will augment Tata Power’s network of 300 already in place in 40 different cities.

E-mobility is important for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Today, transport contributes to approximately one-quarter of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, and is set to reach one-third, growing faster than any other sector. In India, the transport sector accounts for 18% of total energy consumption and contributes an estimated 142 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, out of which 123 million tonnes is contributed by the road transport segment alone.

UNEP supports the shift to electric mobility worldwide, and is implementing a global programme to support countries with the shift to electric mobility. The programme supports more than 60 country projects, including India, where upcoming projects include the electrification of India’s government car fleet with the support of the Global Environment Facility.