Context

• In a bid to control the pollution, Indian Railways has developed an improvised converter, Head on Generation (HOG), in electric locomotives.
• Premium passenger trains of Indian Railways with AC coaches generally run on the End-on-Generation (EOG) system. This adds to both air and noise pollution.
• HOG system utilizes power from overhead catenary in order to feed auxiliaries in the coaches hauled by electric locomotives. According to the Railway Ministry, it saves up to 1 million litres of diesel per train annually.
• Over the years, the locomotives that have been manufactured by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) are HOG compliant. Moreover, from April 2018 onwards, the pace of HOG conversion works for Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches have been increased to harness the benefits of this high-end technology.

About

• In a bid to control the pollution, Indian Railways has developed an improvised converter, Head on Generation (HOG), in electric locomotives.
• Premium passenger trains of Indian Railways with AC coaches generally run on the End-on-Generation (EOG) system. This adds to both air and noise pollution.
• HOG system utilizes power from overhead catenary in order to feed auxiliaries in the coaches hauled by electric locomotives. According to the Railway Ministry, it saves up to 1 million litres of diesel per train annually.
• Over the years, the locomotives that have been manufactured by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) are HOG compliant. Moreover, from April 2018 onwards, the pace of HOG conversion works for Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches have been increased to harness the benefits of this high-end technology.

About:

• Some of the advantages of the HOG system are as follows:
• With HOG system, the noise level reduces from 100 dB to noiseless
• Till now, there has been a significant reduction of CO2 (over 2500 Ton) as well as NOX (over 10 Ton) emissions
• The HOG system reduced consumption of diesel, leading to huge savings in operational costs to the tune of over Rs 1,100 crore per annum
• Compared to EOG Power, which is Rs 22/unit, the HOG Power is economical at Rs 6/unit