In an environment-friendly move, as many as 14 states and union territories have achieved 100% electrification of their broad-gauge rail networks as of March 31, 2023, according to the Union ministry of railways.
The states/UTs to have achieved the milestone include Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Puducherry, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
These states are followed by Andhra Pradesh (15th position) with 96.8% electrified railway track, Bihar (96.4%), Tamil Nadu (94.9%), Maharashtra (94.4%), West Bengal (90.9%), Kerala (90.4%), Gujarat (88.5%), Punjab (83.09%), Goa (77.7%), and Rajasthan (77.3%).
Karnataka is at the 25th position in the country with 2,820 Route Km (RKM) of the total 3,836 RKM (73.5%) electrified till March 2023. In 2021, only 42.4% of the railway lines in Karnataka were electrified.
On why Karnataka figured in least rail line electrified states, KN Krishna Prasad, member of Karnataka Railway Vedike, an NGO, said: "Karnataka falls under five railway zones: South Western Railway, Southern Railway, South Central Railway, Central Railway, and Konkan Railway. There are multiple reasons for Karnataka lagging in the electrification of railway tracks: i) freight movement via rail was less in the state ii) SWR which covers more than 85% of Karnataka came into existence only in 2003 ii) lack of political will."
He said the pace of rail electrification in the state has improved in the past few years. "Agencies like RVNL, CORE, Power Grid Corporation of India, and RITES are undertaking railway electrification work across the country. There is also no dearth of funding for the electrification project, which is expected to be completed by 2024 before the Lok Sabha polls. But we will still require a small percentage of diesel locos as standby in case of untoward accidents like snapping of power cables, breakdown of AC locos, and also for shunting yards."
Assam, which has 2,518-RKM broad-gauge rail network, electrified 28.7% of the route, and is below Karnataka. North-eastern states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, which have smaller rail networks, are at the bottom of the list.
Records show electrified broad-gauge route on Indian railways is 58,812 RKM, which is 90.06%. In addition to this, 6,457 RKM of broad-gauge routes electrification works in progress as on April 1, 2023.
100% rail electrification by March 2024
Union budget outlay for the railway electrification for the financial year 2023-24 is Rs 8,070 crore and the Union ministry of railways has set December-2023 deadline for 100% electrification. However, railway sources said they are expecting to complete the work only by March 2024.
“A lot of emphasis has been given to railway electrification in recent years with a view to reduce the nation's dependence on imported petroleum-based energy and to enhance the country's energy security, with a vision of providing an eco-friendly, faster, and energy-efficient mode of transportation,” an earlier PIB release said.
“Further, new broad-gauge networks will be sanctioned along with electrification, in sync with railways’ policy of 100% electrified network”, it added.
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