The Salem Division of Railways distributed free LED tube lights to its staff members residing in railway colonies all over the division.

The division had already, distributed tube lights to its employees residing at its colonies at Podanur (700 lights to 350 houses), Coimbatore (370 lights to 185 houses) and Karur (380 lights to 190 houses) – at the rate of two tube lights per household.

The distribution of 800 tube lights to 400 houses in Salem Railway Colonies began on Wednesday in the presence of M. Govindan, Divisional Secretary of SRMU, Salem and other railway officials and staff. The 18 watts LED tube lights will replace the existing conventional 52 watts tube lights, resulting in a saving of 68 watts of electricity per household and in Salem alone this will result in an average saving of whopping 27,200 watts of electricity overall, an official release said.

Solar power is being extensively tapped by the Electrical branch of Salem Division by fitment of Solar Panels in various places, such as Salem (3.25 kW), Tiruppur (2.88 kW), Mettuppalayam (10 kW).

Small Solar Plants of 1.5 kW capacity in six railway stations in Salem-Vridhachalam Section and Solar powered water pumps installed in Perugumani Station in Karur-Trichy Fort Section.

Solar water heaters have been provided in all major stations such as Coimbatore, Karur, Salem, Tiruppur, Erode and., Solar panel fitted passenger coach has been attached in Coimbatore-Mayavaram Jan Shatabdi Express and six more coaches are planned to be fitted with solar panels at a cost of Rs.20 lakhs, it said.

This initiative was ushered in by Salem Divisional Railway Manager Hari Shankar Verma, with a view to make the Division an energy efficient one, it said,