While Solar PV can find its place in underground networks worldwide, it may take a few years to be applied on large scale railways. However, we cannot say governments have not made efforts all over the world to operate solar-powered trains. When do the trains run as the sun is available only during the day? Fortunately, energy generated through the panel is stored in batteries to be used at night. We have a roundup of solar trains in operation below:

The first-ever solar train

The first fully solar-operated train was introduced in New South Wales, Australia, around 70 years back. The train was renovated in 2017 by the North Byron Resort by applying solar panels on its roofs which supply 6.6 kW of power to the train. The train runs at a ridiculously slow speed of 18 km/h. If you have a lot of time in hand, you should consider enjoying the 3 km distance in your leisure!

The UK train

The world’s first railway line powered by a 30-kW solar farm was inaugurated in 2019 in the United Kingdom. It was built close to the station so that the farm would feed directly into the station. Since it has enough capacity, there won’t be any problem with powering, signaling, and lighting. However, given that trains in the United Kingdom consume 4,050 million kWh of electricity per year, solar farms are unlikely to provide 100% of the energy required to run the entire system in the near future.

India is not far behind!

Solar trains in India have panels on their roofs from where they get the energy. India’s first 100% solar-powered station came up in Guwahati in 2017. India is planning to reduce its high dependence on a highly polluting electricity mix.