Chennai: Officials said that the entire 5,068 km broad-gauge network in Southern Railway has now been electrified, marking a new historical milestone.
Across the country, work to improve railway infrastructure is being carried out intensively. Measures are being taken to operate new trains, upgrade railway tracks, and renovate railway stations. As part of this, work is being undertaken to electrify broad-gauge railway lines.
This will enable trains to be operated using high-speed and environmentally friendly electric engines instead of traditional diesel engines. Indian Railways is advancing rapidly toward the goal of 100 percent electrification of the entire broad-gauge network across the country.
As of now, more than 99.6 percent of the routes across the country have been electrified. In Southern Railway, as of last year, 98.7 percent of the total network had been electrified.
Only a 71 km railway line remained between Pattukkottai and Karaikudi. The work to electrify this route was recently completed.
Following this, senior officials led by Southern Railway’s Chief Electrical Engineer Ganesh conducted an inspection by running a train on this route the day before yesterday.
Regarding this, Southern Railway officials said: The inspection work on the electrified railway line between Pattukkottai and Karaikudi has been successfully completed. The work of electrifying broad-gauge railway lines in Southern Railway has been completed 100 percent. Through this, Southern Railway has reached a historic milestone.
Currently, the entire 5,068 km stretch has been fully electrified, so there is no longer any need to change engines. This will make it possible to provide uninterrupted electric train services across the entire zone. They said that trains can be operated faster, and operational efficiency as well as the utilization of locomotives will improve significantly.
History of electric train operations
Electric train operations in the Southern Railway began on May 11, 1931, in Madras (Chennai). With this, Chennai became India’s second major city, after Bombay, to introduce electric train services.
Following this, electrification began between Chennai Beach and Tambaram in 1968. As the final stage of this long journey, 100 percent electrification has now been achieved.
