Energy conservation in railway tunnel through cloud based automation and geofencing

The Indian railway tunnel lighting systems consume tremendous energy due to all the LEDs inside the tunnel being in the ‘ON’ state around the clock. In reality, the LEDs should only be in the ‘ON’ state when the railway passes through the tunnel. According to a survey, the average railway traffic through the tunnel is about 8 hours per day, with the remaining 16 hours being traffic-free. Most of the energy is wasted during this period. The proposed system aims to automate and control tunnel lighting using cloud and geofencing technologies. It can help reduce energy consumption while maintaining safety and lowering LED replacement costs. The system is built on a cloud-based platform and includes various components such as sensors, software, and hardware. These advanced technologies can improve the efficiency of railway infrastructure, reduce energy consumption, and decrease overall costs annually. An analysis of the first 51 tunnels indicated that current energy usage is 76.10 GW, with electricity costs approximately ₹1266.41 million. Implementing an automatic system could reduce energy consumption to 15.86 GW, lowering costs to ₹264.27 million. Energy conservation has a significant societal impact and helps bridge the gap between electricity generation and utilization.