Soon, CTU buses in Chandigarh to run on CNG

Tribune News Service

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, May 13

To reduce the emission of toxic substances, the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) buses in the city will soon run on compressed natural gas (CNG), also known as green fuel.

Concerned over harmful effects of the fossil fuel, the UT Administration has decided to convert all 258 diesel buses on local routes to CNG at the earliest.

UT Adviser Dharam Pal said a target had been set to convert the entire fleet of local buses to CNG within three months. It woud not only reduce greenhouse gases, but would also be cost-effective, he said.

To reduce dependence on fossil fuel, the CTU had in January pressed environment-friendly 40 electric buses into service on various routes in the city. The first batch of 11 electric buses was flagged off by UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit on November 13 last year. The CTU will add 40 more buses to its fleet of electric buses by the mid of this year.

The Transport Department has already awarded the contract to Volvo Eicher to run the buses at the rate of Rs 44.99 per km, which was cheaper by Rs 15 per km in comparison to the work allotted earlier for the 40 buses in the first phase. Earlier, the contract to run 40 electric buses was allotted to Ashok Leyland at the rate of Rs 60 per km. He said the company would deliver all buses by June or July this year.

The procurement of the buses will give a major boost to the plan of the UT Administration to replace the entire fleet of diesel buses of the CTU, running on local or suburban routes, with electric ones by 2027-28. In September 2020, the Centre had sanctioned 80 electric buses for the UT under Phase II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme.

After being charged, a bus will be able to cover a distance of nearly 130 km. It will take nearly two or two and a half hours to fully charge a bus. Each bus has a seating capacity of 36 people and a maximum of 54 people will be able to travel at a time, and it will run 200-300 km in a day.

A charging station has been set up at Depot No. 3 in Sector 25. The buses have also been fitted with a fire detection and alarm system.

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