Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) and the Delhi Division of Northern Railway have signed an agreement to supply piped natural gas (PNG) to 22 railway establishments across Delhi-NCR, replacing the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and diesel at the sites.
The initial supply under the agreement is expected to be around 3,000 standard cubic metres of gas per day (SCMD). IGL said this would replace approximately 500 kg of LPG and 2,500 litres of diesel consumed daily by the identified railway facilities.
The conversion will cover railway mechanised laundries, officers’ rest houses, base kitchens, running rooms, subordinate rest houses, and guard and ticket examiner lobbies in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar. Mechanised laundries at Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Old Delhi, Anand Vihar Terminal, Hazrat Nizamuddin and New Delhi are expected to use PNG for boiler operations.
The agreement was signed on Friday in the presence of senior officials from IGL and Northern Railway. IGL Chairman Subhankar Sen said the partnership would help substitute a substantial quantity of LPG with natural gas, reducing import dependence and the associated subsidy burden. He also said the collaboration could support a wider transition from LPG to PNG across the Indian Railways network.
Delhi Division Railway Manager Pushpesh Raman Tripathi said the arrangement would help reduce energy costs for Indian Railways. He added that PNG connectivity could subsequently be extended to railway hospitals and residential colonies, although the current agreement covers the 22 identified establishments.
IGL expects gas consumption under the initiative to rise to between 8,000 and 10,000 SCMD in the coming years as pipeline infrastructure and connectivity expand across its authorised geographical areas. These areas include Ajmer, Banda, Rewari and Muzaffarnagar, in addition to the Delhi-NCR locations covered by the initial agreement.
The railway partnership is part of IGL’s broader effort to expand natural gas use among institutional and commercial consumers under the government’s National PNG Drive 3.0. The company has also introduced promotional incentives for domestic PNG registrations, including a Rs 2,000 discount on standard registration charges and Rs 500 worth of free gas after activation of a connection.
IGL operates city gas distribution networks across 34 districts in 11 geographical areas spanning Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. The company said its infrastructure includes more than 30,000 km of pipelines and over 1,000 CNG stations, serving more than 2.5 million CNG vehicles and nearly 3.5 million PNG-connected households.
The actual cost and emissions benefits of the railway conversion will depend on gas procurement prices, end-use efficiency and the fuels displaced at each facility. Northern Railway and IGL are expected to proceed with pipeline connectivity and the phased conversion of the identified establishments, with possible extensions to other railway facilities to be considered later.
