3 weeks ago
Bhopal Depot Gets Smart Pit Lighting, Saving ₹8.27 Lakh Yearly
In a city called Bhopal, there is a special railway place where trains are checked and fixed between trips.
It is called the Rani Kamlapati coaching depot.
Trains park over digging pits so workers can look underneath them.
The lights above these pits used to stay on even when no train was there.
Now, smart lights turn on all by themselves when a train arrives.
They turn off by themselves when the train leaves and the pit is empty.
This saves a lot of electricity, about 88,000 units every year.
That is like saving around ₹8.27 lakh in money each year.
The new system cost only about ₹1.50 lakh to build.
So it pays for itself in about two months and helps the railway save energy and be kinder to the environment.
West Central Railway General Manager Dilip Singh inaugurated the smart pit lighting system at Bhopal's Rani Kamlapati coaching depot.
The lights automatically switch on when a train enters a pit and turn off when the train exits and the pit becomes vacant.
The system runs on smart proximity sensors and a Programmable Logic Controller-based control system, installed in pit numbers 8, 9, and 10.
It is estimated to save about 88,000 units of electricity and around ₹8.27 lakh in costs annually.
Built at about ₹1.50 lakh with a payback period of roughly two months, the event also saw the inauguration of a CBT centre and an Integrated Coach Maintenance Facility.
- Who
- Dilip Singh, General Manager of West Central Railway
- What
- Inaugurated a smart pit lighting system, a Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre, and an Integrated Coach Maintenance Facility at the depot
- Where
- Rani Kamlapati coaching depot, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh (West Central Railway, Bhopal Division)
- When
- On Saturday (specific date not provided in the article)
- Why
- To save electricity and cost (about 88,000 units and ₹8.27 lakh annually) and to promote energy conservation, energy efficiency, and eco-friendly railway operations
Key facts
- Location
- Rani Kamlapati coaching depot, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
- Railway zone
- West Central Railway (Bhopal Division)
- Inaugurated by
- Dilip Singh, WCR General Manager
- Pit lines covered
- 8, 9, and 10
- Control technology
- Smart proximity sensors and PLC-based control system
- Estimated annual electricity saving
- About 88,000 units
- Estimated annual cost saving
- Around ₹8.27 lakh
- Development cost / payback period
- Approximately ₹1.50 lakh / about two months








