RAILWAYS COMPLETE ELECTRIFICATION OF A TOTAL OF 649 ROUTE KILOMETERS OVER NORTHEAST FRONTIER RAILWAY

RAILWAYS COMPLETE ELECTRIFICATION OF A TOTAL OF 649 ROUTE KILOMETERS OVER NORTHEAST FRONTIER RAILWAY

Context:

Indian Railways has started an ambitious plan of electrification of its complete Broad Gauge network by 2023-24. Electrification would result in better fuel energy usage resulting in increased throughput, reduced fuel expenditure but also savings in precious foreign exchange.

Key Highlights:

• Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has successfully completed the Electrification work of a total of 649 Route Kilometer (RKM)/ 1294 Tonne Kilometer (TKM) of High-Density Network (HDN) from Katihar to Guwahati.
• It will now connect all major cities of the country with Guwahati on seamless Electric Traction. This is yet another effort by NFR for capital connectivity by Green Transportation.
• From 7th Oct to 9th Oct 2021, the final leg of HDN on NF Railway of 107 RKM/273 TKM was successfully inspected by the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) NF circle. In addition to this, passenger trains with higher speed & heavier goods trains can be run.

Significance of Electrification:

• With Electrification, heavier goods trains can be run at higher speeds.
• NF Railway has difficult terrain with a large number of graded sections, curves, bridges. Electrification shall eliminate the need for multi diesel locos as higher HP electric engines can maintain higher speed in gradient sections. Additional Rajdhani express trains can now be introduced for NE states like Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim.