Railways complete electrification of 649 Route kilometers from Katihar to Guwahati
Oct 11, 2021
New Delhi [India], October 11 : 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, the Ministry of Railways said on Monday.
According to an official release, the electrification work 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, the release said.
"The final leg of HDN on NFR of 107 RKM/273 TKM was successfully inspected by the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) NF circle from October 7 to October 9, 2021. In addition to this, passenger trains with higher speed AND heavier goods trains can be run," the release said.
Apart from saving foreign exchange reserves spent on HSD oil and providing greener transportation in the northeast, railway electrification up to Guwahati shall lead to a likely saving of foreign exchange spent on HSD Oil of about Rs 300 Crores per annum.
"High-Speed Diesel (HSD) consumption will reduce by about 3400 KL per month. Due to seamless train operation, traction change at New Jalpaiguri, New Coochbehar will now be done away with, enhancing the mobility of the trains," noted the release.
With the move, the running time between Guwahati to Katihar/Malda Town is likely to reduce by up to 2 hours as trains can now move at a higher speed due to better acceleration/ deceleration.
"Line capacity enhancement of up to 10-15 per cent shall lead to a reducing level of saturation on many of the sections on the NF Railway allowing more coaching trains to run," said the release.
With electrification, heavier goods trains can be run at higher speed, said the release, adding that NF Railway has difficult terrain with a large number of graded sections, curves, bridges.
"Electric traction shall eliminate the need for multi diesel locos as higher HP electric engines can maintain higher speed in gradient section. Additional Rajdhani express trains can now be introduced for NE states like Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim," the Ministry said.
The Ministry further said that electrification of this section shall improve operational efficiency and shall lead to large saving on fuel for power cars (About Rs 10 Cr on the electrified route itself).
"15 pairs of existing trains originating/terminating at KYQ/GHY can run with an additional passenger coach by eliminating one power car, thus improving passenger throughput. Electrification will lead to better maintenance as faster trains shall lead to more time for maintenance blocks," added the release.
