New Delhi, In a first of its kind initiative in India, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, Government of India had introduced country’s first Type IV long-range CNG buses. As the Covid-19 induced interstate travel restrictions have eased, Shri A K Jana, Managing Director, IGL and Shri Amit Garg, Director (Commercial), IGL flagged off these buses from IGL’s Metcalfe House CNG Station, New Delhi on 11th December 2020 in the presence of senior officials from IGL, Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) and Mahindra & Mahindra.
Plying of these buses would be a boost for the interstate CNG based long haul public transport that can travel around 1000 Km on a single fill. In co-ordination with Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC), these passenger vehicles would be plying on Delhi – Dehradun route. The buses are fitted with light weight Type-IV composite cylinders which can carry approx. 240 Kgs CNG in comparison to conventional Type-I (Steel) Cylinders which can carry only 80-100 Kgs of CNG.
Interstate long haul buses coming from other cities to Delhi usually run on diesel. Induction of these long-range CNG buses will revolutionize the entire Eco-system leading to a considerable reduction in Carbon footprints which will benefit NCT of Delhi and the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. A single round trip between the cities (i.e. Delhi-Dehradun) is approx. 500 Kms. By running 500 kms on CNG in comparison to diesel, UTC would be saving around Rs 15,000/- in a single run.