“Railway stations are landmark locations and they play a unique role in the entire transport sector, which make them strategic locations for providing public charging solutions for EVs,” Kant said. Niti Aayog officials have recently discussed the draft policy with the railway ministry officials. Rajeev Jain, additional director general, PR, railway ministry, said, “We have very recently received the communication. We are working on it.”

Under the Centre’s FAME-II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and EV) scheme, the push is towards adoption of EVs, especially in public and shared transportation, in a big way in the country. The aim is to support approximately 7,000 e-buses, 500,000 electric three-wheelers, 55,000 electric four-wheeler passenger cars and one million electric two-wheelers through subsidy, said a NitiAayog official.

For this, providing a good and accessible EV charging infrastructure network is critical. While the Centre has taken several initiatives to scale up EV charging facilities, NITI officials said, railway stations can provide a secure and accessible charging infrastructure to city residents.

(With inputs from agencies)