The Hindu Business Line : Railways may electrify 500-km of tracks

Indian Railways is likely to carry out electrification of about 500 km of rail tracks in the next fiscal, up about 38 per cent from 360-km route length expected in the present fiscal, Mr Ramesh Chandra, Member (Electrical), Railway Board, told Business Line.

Currently, the Railways has electrified about 17,800 km of its track, which is some 27 per cent of the overall railway network.

The electrified routes account for about 66 per cent of freight loaded and 51 per cent of passengers moved by the Railways.

Electric traction

The Railways has been increasing its focus on electric traction in order to deal with rising diesel prices.

According to its internal estimates, for every loaded goods train moving 1,000 km on electric traction instead of diesel traction, the Railways saves Rs 2 lakh.

Moreover, it also plans to increase the share of electrified routes over the next five years.

While the Railways planned electrification of 1,800-routekm during the Tenth Plan period (which is on track), it plans to take up electrification for 3,500-route km route in the Eleventh Plan, Mr Chandra said.

With this, the Railways aims to have 33-34 per cent electrified routes that would account for moving 75 per cent of freight loadings and 66 per cent of passenger loadings.

"A pair of trains run on electricity traction, carrying 5,000 tonnes of goods and travelling a distance of 1,000 km, saves about Rs 15 crore annually," Mr Chandra had earlier said.