Electrification of SC Railway picks up Pace Hyderabad, Dec 13 (INN): Indian Railways is undergoing a transformational overhaul with Railway Minister Piyush Goyal setting the ambitious development agenda on move, with bold decisions to improve the system.
According to an estimate, Indian Railways will save around Rs. 13,000 Crore per annum in fuel bill and reduce carbon emission by 3.4 million tonnes a year, if the entire rail network in the country stands electrified. Electrification, coupled with increased use of solar power is bound to keep the railways on course to attain the vision of Prime Minister towards a clean and green energy based India. The Chairman Railway Board, Ashwani Lohani has also been opining that electrification of railway lines can be one major potential area for reducing expenditure of the National transporter. The interesting fact is, while around two-thirds of freight and over half of passenger traffic of Indian Railways is carried on the electric traction, the energy expenses due to electricity consumption remain at 37%, which signify the cost effectiveness of electrification for Indian Railways.
Seeking to give the concrete shape to the plans for Indian Railways, the cabinet committee on economic affairs chaired by Narendra Modi appoved a plan to electrify the remaining around 13,000 route kilometres of railway lines at a cost of Rs.12,134.50 Crore, to target completion of electrification of the entire Indian Railway network by 2021-22. The Central Organization for Railway Electrification (CORE) which is tasked with the completion of electrification of rail tracks over Indian Railways has been undertaking the job with renewed momentum in the last few years.
From the time, Piyush Goyal took charge at Rail Bhavan, the stress towards speeding up electrification projects has taken the number one slot in the priority list for Indian Railways. With the Minister also holding charge of the energy sector, decision making too became easy.
News Posted: 13 December, 2018
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