The Ministry of Railways on Tuesday (July 2) provided an update on electrification efforts, announcing Indian Railways’ imminent achievement of 100% electrification, positioning it as the world’s largest green railway network. “Indian Railways is going to achieve the target of #Mission100PercentElectrification soon. #MissionNetZeroCarbonEmission,” the ministry of railways said in a tweet.
The interim budget has allotted Rs 6500 crore for ongoing electrification projects. Once fully electrified, Indian Railways will rank as the world’s largest green railway system. Several regions across India have already achieved complete electrification.
Indian Railways transitioning from diesel to electric engines
Since 2014, the Railways have invested more than Rs 46,425 crore in electrification. Transitioning from diesel to electric engines is ongoing, with a notable shift towards electric locomotives. As of December 2023, Indian Railways operates 10,238 electric locomotives and 4,543 diesel locomotives.
In the fiscal year 2023-24 alone, the Railways electrified 7,188 kilometers of rail network, including routes like Ahmedabad-Rajkot-Okha (499 km), Bengaluru-Talguppa (371 km), and Bhatinda-Firozpur-Jalandhar (301 km). This transition to electric traction is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 24% by 2027-28.
Since the fiscal year 2014-15, Indian Railways has electrified over 40,000 route kilometers on the broad gauge network, a significant increase from the 2,180 km electrified in all preceding years before 2014.
Indian Railways have set a target to be the world’s largest green railway with zero carbon emissions by 2030.