INDIA WATCH: India's Solar Train - Is India Really Running Trains on Sunlight?
A Short shows a stretch of railway track glittering between the rails. The caption: India's Solar Train.
It sounds like science fiction. But on August 15, 2025 - Independence Day - it became reality in Varanasi.
Indian Railways just did what even Switzerland is still experimenting with.
What Actually Happened in Varanasi?
It wasn't a train with solar panels bolted on its roof - we've tried that before.
At the Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW), Varanasi, Indian Railways commissioned India's first removable solar panel system installed between active railway tracks.
The pilot project is deceptively simple and brilliantly Indian in its jugaad:
• 70 meters of track • 28 bifacial mono PERC solar panels • 15 kWp capacity generating ∼67 to 80 units of electricity daily • Secured with rubber pads and epoxy to absorb vibration, and can be removed with just four stainless steel bolts when the track needs maintenance
The Ministry of Railways announced it on X as a "historic first" for green and sustainable rail transport.
Why "Between the Tracks" is a Masterstroke
Indian Railways has 1,20,000 km of track. That's not just steel - that's 1,20,000 km of unused, sun-baked real estate in one of the sunniest countries on earth.
Until now, we put solar panels on station rooftops and on barren railway land. This project asks: why not use the space inside the track itself?
The numbers are staggering:
• Power density: 220 kWp per kilometer • Energy density: 880 units per kilometer per day • If scaled even just to yard lines and sidings, one kilometer could generate 3.21 lakh units annually without acquiring a single inch of new land
The panels are built for India - anti-reflective coating so loco pilots aren't blinded, heat and dust-proof, monsoon-ready.
This Isn't India's First Solar Tryst
This is the second chapter.
Back in 2016, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, in collaboration with IISc Bangalore, tested LHB coaches with flexible 180W solar panels on the curved roof to power lights and fans.
What BLW has done is different. It's not solar on the train. It's solar from the track.
The world is watching. Switzerland installed a similar system near Neuchâtel in April 2025. India has now shown you can do it removably, cheaply, and indigenously - a system designed to be taken off in minutes for track maintenance.
The Bigger Picture: Net-Zero by 2030
This 70-meter patch is a small step towards a very big ambition.
Indian Railways has committed to become Net-Zero Carbon Emitter by 2030. The plan includes:
• Solar-powered stations • Plans to use 51,000 hectares of vacant railway land to generate 20 GW of solar power • And now, track-based solar, where BLW itself already meets 20% of its energy needs from solar
And just days ago, on July 24, 2026, PM Modi flagged off India's first hydrogen train in Haryana - proof that the green rail revolution is running on multiple tracks simultaneously.
Why You Should Care
This isn't just about trains. This is about how India solves problems.
We don't have Switzerland's luxury of vast empty land. We have constraints: heat, dust, vibration, 68,000 km of network that must be maintained every day, and a land acquisition problem.
The removable solar panel answers all of them. No land. No disruption. Power where you need it.
So the next time you see that Short and think "Wait... trains are running on sunlight?", the answer is: Not yet on sunlight, but between sunlight - and that might be even smarter.
Do you think every railway yard in India should get this? Would you like to see Chennai's tracks powering your neighborhood?
Let me know in the comments.
