A total of six railway zones out of 18 have been electrified as of date after North Eastern Railway was added to the list as the ministry achieved a significant milestone of completing the electrification of all broad gauge routes in Uttar Pradesh.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ministry said with 85% of route kilometres electrified, Indian Railways is rapidly progressing to accomplish Mission 100 Per Cent Electrification and become the largest green railway network in the world.
“With the completion of electrification of the Subhagpur-Pachperwa Broad Gauge (BG) route in North Eastern Railway, Indian Railways has completed the electrification of all BG routes in Uttar Pradesh. This will improve rail connectivity in the region and will improve the speed of trains in the region,” the ministry said.
So far Indian Railways has completed the electrification of BG routes in six zones – East Coast Railway, North Central Railway, North Eastern Railway, Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway, and West Central Railway.
In June 2021, the West Central Railway (WCR) became the first zone of the railways that achieved 100 per cent electrification. In February 2022, South Eastern Railway achieved 100 per cent route electrification. In May 2022, Eastern Railway achieved 100 per cent electrification of its 2,848 km network.
In October 2022, North Central Railway electrified its entire broad gauge network spanning through the parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. In March 2022, Konkan Railway completed 100% rail electrification of its entire stretch.
Speaking to News18, a ministry official said that electrification was introduced on railways in 1925 with 1,500 Volts DC and subsequently, extended by installing a 3,000 Volts DC system. At least 388 route km was electrified by 1936. Further, in 1957, the ministry decided to adopt a 25 KV AC traction system and, thus, selected main lines and high-density routes were taken up for energisation in a planned manner.
“Railway plans to progressively shift its power requirement from diesel to electric traction. Electrical is an environmentally friendly, pollution-free, and energy-efficient mode of transport and offers an excellent alternative to fossil fuels as a source of energy,” the official told News18 demanding anonymity.
Officials further said that to cater to the future energy demand of various electrical assets in traction and non-traction applications, “Railways have planned to progressively procure renewable energy from different power procurement modes”.
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