Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today said, Indian railways require a comprehensive energy efficiency programme to optimize the operational cost. Addressing the International Summit on Energy Efficient Technologies in Railway in New Delhi, the minister said there is need to set up the energy efficient standards for railways for each of the operations of the system. <br/><br/>The minister said the Railway is consuming 2 percent of total energy produce by the country, so there is urgent need to focus on demand side management and energy efficiency issues. Mr Prabhu informed, the department will save 5,000 crore rupees in next 5 year form energy conservation initiatives. <br/><br/>The summit is aimed at introducing a number of energy efficient technologies and measure in the railway system. AIR correspondent reports that Indian railway is consuming 17 billion units of energy annually, with an cost of 10,500 crore. It also consumes 27 lacs liters diesel costing 20,000 crore rupees. This amounts to more than 25 percent of total revenue budget of Indian railway, which is second component of its expenditure.