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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Sweden's biogas train to run in India Swedish makers of the world's first biogas train hope to market it in India, where vast stretches of rail tracks use diesel engines in the absence of electricity. Biogas train "Amanda" has been jointly developed by Tekniska Verk, a Swedish biogas company, and Swedish railways subsidiary EuroMaint. "Sweden has something special for India," Lars-Goran Olsson, sales director of EuroMaint, said on Amanda's recent maiden trip in Linkoping. The prototype will go into regular service later this summer between Linkoping and Vastervik, about 160 kilometre. Later, it will extend services to the port city of Kalmar (260 kilometre). Gradually, as more trains are readied, the rest of the unelectrified stretches in the country would be covered. "We had India very much in mind during the development of this train," said Bertil Carlsson, project leader at Tekiniska Verk in Linkoping. "India, besides having the largest railway network in the world, also has the largest stretches of un-electrified railways over which diesel engines are used. That is where the biogas train can work environmental and economic wonders." The prototype has been built by replacing the diesel motors in a 25-year-old engine with modern gas-driven motors, the same used in some of the biogas-driven buses. "Biogas is renewable. It reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 98 percent as well as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons by two thirds compared to diesel," said Bjorn Sunden, executive vice president, EuroMaint. "The diesel tanks have been replaced by 11 gas tubes which, when filled to capacity, can be driven for 600 kilometre. The train can run at a maximum speed of 135 kilometre per hour," Sunden said. India is already exploring eco-friendly energy sources, with buses and taxis running on compressed natural gas in New Delhi. "But they will need our technology to develop economically viable (biogas) train engines," Sunden said. "Using our technology in exploiting biogas will improve production by 60 per cent from the same quantity of material. There have already been tentative enquiries from several countries, including India." Said Sunden: "We are on the threshold of a great advance in industrial revolution. I feel just like (automobile innovator) Henry Ford must have felt nearly a century ago." Antonia Sorella of global environment NGO Greenpeace said: "Besides the air, the project can also help clean up slums in Indian cities. All the waste matter that threatens health can be radically transformed into clean and vital energy."
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