Another milestone for Indian Railways! Central Railway becomes 7th zone to achieve 100% electrification – Here’s all you need to know about it

To reduce the dependency on imported petroleum-based energy, Indian Railways is rapidly moving towards full electrification of its Broad Gauge (BG) tracks. The move will enhance the country’s energy security, with a vision of providing an eco-friendly, faster, and energy-efficient mode of transportation.  

In this context, Central Railway (CR) zone has achieved a milestone with 100 percent electrification of the entire BG network of 3,825 route km. It also becomes the seventh zone in becoming fully electrified. This will save around 5.204 lakh tons of carbon footprints annually. It will also save Rs 1,670 crores annually.

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PM Modi lauds electrification work:- 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded the electrification of the Central Railway. In a tweet, PM Modi said, “Outstanding feat. Compliments to the entire team.”

Significance:-

The pace of electrification of the entire railway network across the country has increased at 9X speed since 2014. The electrification project will facilitate the elimination of diesel traction resulting in a significant reduction in its carbon footprint and environmental pollution. This will help the national transporter in marching towards becoming the largest Green Railway in the world by 2030.

In a statement, Naresh Lalwani, General Manager (GM), of Central Railway said, “Railway is guided by a historical vision of being an environmentally friendly, efficient, cost-effective, punctual and a modern carrier of passengers as well as the freight in order to serve the growing needs of New India. This will also significantly reduce the fuel bill and earn carbon footprints.”

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Advantages of Railway Electrification (RE):-

The electrification of the entire Broad Gauge network will save precious foreign currency and reduce carbon footprints. It will also reduce operational costs. The RE will also help in increasing sectional capacity by eliminating detention o­n account of traction change. The move will enhance rail connectivity in the region, and will also improve the speed of trains.

Seven railway zones fully electrified:-

After the completion of the railway electrification project in CR, the BG routes of seven zonal railways have been completed so far namely: East Coast Railway (ECoR), North Central Railway (NCR), North Eastern Railway (NER), Eastern Railway (ER), South Eastern Railway (SER), West Central Railway (WCR), and Central Railway (CR).