808 kWp More Solar: Jammu Railway Division's Plan for Katra, Udhampur and Beyond

808 kilowatt-peak. That is how much new solar capacity Northern Railway's Jammu Division plans to add through 18 new plants, lifting the division's total from 1,745 kWp to 2,553 kWp, according to reports published on 5 October 2026.

kWp and MW, in one minute

A kilowatt-peak (kWp) is the most electricity a solar plant can produce in ideal sunshine. A megawatt (MW) is simply 1,000 kilowatts. So the division's present 1,745 kWp is 1.745 MW, and the planned 2,553 kWp is about 2.55 MW. Real output on a cloudy winter morning in Jammu will be lower than the peak figure; the reports do not give expected annual generation.

The numbers, plant by plant

• Today: 1,745 kWp operating across five major railway depots, per the reports. Jammu station and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra station are among the sites with plants; Katra already has a 1 MW plant.
• New: 18 plants adding 808 kWp.
• Katra: a new 450 kWp plant. Work began on 12 September 2026, with completion targeted for December 2026.
• Udhampur (Shaheed Captain Tushar Mahajan station): 13 plants totalling 358 kWp. Work is described as starting soon.

The reports name Katra and Udhampur as the two stations covered by the new projects; they do not say where the remaining plants fall in the 18 total, and no site-by-site list has been published in the coverage we reviewed.

Why a commuter or traveller might care

Katra is the railhead for Vaishno Devi yatra traffic, and Udhampur sits on the Jammu-Srinagar rail corridor, both stations that many students, job-seekers and weekend travellers pass through. Solar generated on site offsets power the railway would otherwise buy from the grid. The reports say the savings are meant to reduce the division's electricity expenditure and support passenger amenities.

What has not been announced

• The project cost.
• The rupee savings: one report says only that savings will be in the "lakhs of rupees annually", the other gives no figure.
• Which amenities the savings will fund.
• A completion date for Udhampur, or for the full 18-plant programme.

Divisional Railway Manager Vivek Kumar said: "Our goal is not just to operate trains, but to take Indian Railways towards a clean, green and sustainable future." The reports also attribute the project timeline to Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer Vishal Rathi, and quote Kumar as saying that every station of Jammu Division will be illuminated with solar energy in the coming times.

For more on how these stations are changing, see our earlier piece on the rebuild of Jammu Tawi railway station. The hero image is a file photo of Katra station.

Sources:

• Greater Kashmir: Jammu Division's green leap, railway stations to expand solar power capacity to 2.55 MW
• The Northlines: Jammu Division's green leap, railway stations to expand solar power capacity