1. Historical Background of Railway electrification :-
Railway Electrification made a modest beginning with the inauguration of first electric train between Bombay VT and Kurla Harbour on 3rd February 1925 on then existing GIP Railway system at 1500 V DC. Heavy gradients on the Western Ghats necessitated introduction of electric traction on Central Railway upto Igatpuri on North East line and Pune on South East line. 1500 Volt DC traction was introduced on suburban section of Western Railway between Colaba and Borivili on 5.1.1928 and Madras Beach and Tambram of Southern Railway on 11.5.1931. This was primarily to meet the growing traffic in these metros. Thus, before the dawn of Independence, India had 388 KM of electrification on DC traction.
In the post Independence era, electrification of Howrah-Burdwan section of Eastern Railway was taken up on 3000 Volt DC during the First Five Year Plan period and completed in 1958. The EMU services were inaugurated in Howrah-Sheoraphulli section by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India on 14.12.1957.
25 KV AC system of traction emerged as an economical system of electrification as a result of extensive research and trials in Europe, particularly on French Railways (SNCF). Indian Railways decided in 1957 to adopt 25 KV AC system of electrification as a standard, with SNCF as their consultant in the initial stages.
In the wake of industrial development, in the Eastern region, due to the setting up of steel plants, large scale movement of Iron and Coal, substantial growth in freight traffic, which could not be managed by steam traction, electrification and dieselisation had to be introduced in early sixties to cope up with the growing traffic.
The first section electrified on 25 KV AC system was Raj Kharswan-Dongoaposi of South Eastern Railway in the year 1960. With a view to provide continuity of traction system, Howrah-Burdwan section of Eastern Railway and Madras Beach Tambaram section of Southern Railway were converted to 25 KV AC system by 1968.
The manufacture of Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) required for Kolkata suburban services was taken up indigenously at Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai and the first EMU rolled out during September 1962.
Considering the various limitations in existing 1500 V DC traction system in Central Railway and Western Railway, a decision was taken to convert to 25 KV AC traction during 1996-97. Conversion from DC traction to AC traction is under progress.
2. Organisation a setup of Central Organisation for Railway Electrification :-
Electrification office was initially set up in Calcutta as PORE (Project office for Railway Electrification) during the First Five Year Plan period, when Electrification of Howrah-Burdwan section of Eastern Railway was taken up.
General Manager was posted for the Railway Electrification Organisation set up at Calcutta in 1959.In 1961, Northern Railway Electrification office was set up at Allahabad for electrification of Mughalsarai-New Delhi section. This office was headed by an Engineer -in- Chief.
On recommendation of J. Raj Committee report in 1978, a number of Electrification works were included in the Pink Book. For proper controlling, monitoring and execution of Railway Electrification works in different Zonal Railways, the concept of Railway Electrification headquarter came into being.
Since most of the sanctioned electrification works were falling in the Central and Southern regions of the country ; the Headquarters of electrification was set up at Nagpur and functioned under the charge of Additional General Manager from 1982 to 1984. The Railway Electrification office was shifted to Allahabad under Additional General Manager w.e.f. January,1985 . A regular General Manager was posted at Central Organisation For Railway Electrification, Allahabad from July 1987 on wards which is continuing till date.
The Headquarters office of Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE) is headed by General Manager and assisted by Electrical, S&T, Civil, Store, Personnel, vigilance and associated finance departments. Presently, Eight RE project offices are functioning viz. Ambala, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Lucknow, Kota and Secunderabad, Gorakhpur and Hajipur headed by Chief Project Managers.
3. Progress of Railway Electrification:
In the wake of industrial development, in the Eastern region, due to the setting up of steel plants, large scale movement of Iron and Coal, substantial growth in freight traffic, which could not be managed by steam traction, electrification and dieselisation had to be introduced in early sixties to cope up with the growing traffic. After the completion of 2nd Five Year Plan, Indian Railways had electrified 216 RKM on 25 KV AC. During the Third Plan, along with considerable indigenisation, electrification was extended over another 1678 RKM. The pace of electrification, however, slowed down until the oil crisis of seventies. The second oil crisis in particular brought to the fore the need for evolving a long term policy for electrification to reduce the dependence of Railways on petroleum based energy.
In the context of shift from petroleum based energy in transport sector, the Secretaries Committee on energy headed by Cabinet Secretary decided in July 1980 that the Railways should speed up electrification at a pace of 1000 Route Kms./year. Accordingly, the pace of electrification was considerably speeded up and Indian Railways achieved progress of 2812 RKM during the 7th Plan, 2708 RKM during 8th Plan and 2484 RKM during 9th Plan making it a total of 16001 RKM. In the recently concluded 10th Plan, electrification of 1810 RKMs has been achieved which is more than the target of 1800 RKM.
Six major trunk routes of Golden Quadrilateral and diagonals viz Delhi - , Delhi - Mumbai via Central and Western Railways, Delhi - Chennai, Mumbai - Calcutta and Howrah-Chennai have already been fully electrified. Electrification of remaining Mumbai-Chennai Route (Nandalur-Pune) is in progress.
A total of 18145 RKM has been electrified up to 31.03.2008 on Indian Railways, mostly on heavy density routes. This constitutes about 28.65% of total Railway network. At present, approximately 49.7% of passenger traffic and 62.8% freight traffic is operated on electric traction. The XIth Plan target for electrification is set at above 3500 RKM and target to be realized during 2008-09 is 1000 RKM.
4. Important landmarks of Railway Electrification:
|
Sl No.
|
Date & Year
|
Railway
|
RKMs
|
Landmarks
|
|
1.
|
3.2.1925
|
Central
|
16
|
First electric train on 1500 Volt DC from Bombay VT to Kurla.
|
|
2.
|
Up to 1947
|
Central,Eastern & South Eastern
|
388
|
RKM electrified on Indian Railways at the time of Independance.
|
|
3.
|
1954-58
|
Eastern
|
142
|
3000 V DC electrification on HWH-Burdwan and Sheoraphulli- Tarakeshwar sections.
|
|
4.
|
14.12.1957
|
Eastern
|
142
|
Inauguration of EMU services on Howrah-Sheoraphulli section by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, first P.M. of India.
|
|
5.
|
1957
|
-
|
-
|
Adoption of 25 KV AC single phase electrification on Indian Railways.
|
|
6.
|
11.8.1960
|
South Eastern
|
75
|
First section electrified on 25 KV AC Raj Kharswan- Dongoaposi.
|
|
7.
|
14.10.1961
|
-
|
-
|
Inauguration of first 1500 V DC electric locomotive (Lokmanya) for Bombay area by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, first P.M.of India.
|
|
8.
|
September 1962
|
-
|
-
|
Introduction of first indigenous Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) for services.
|
|
9.
|
1966,&1968
|
Eastern & South Eastern
|
-
|
3 KV DC converted in to 25 KV AC.
|
|
10.
|
7.1.1977
|
Eastern & Northern
|
1445
|
Commissioning of electrified trunk route of Delhi-Howrah.
|
|
11.
|
31.3.1987
|
Northern, Central & Western
|
1388
|
Commissioning of electrified trunk route of Delhi-Bombay via Western Railway.
|
|
12.
|
31.01.1991
|
Eastern, South Eastern & Central
|
1976
|
Commissioning of electrified trunk route of Howrah-Bombay.
|
|
13.
|
31.3.1991
|
Northern, Central, South Central & Southern
|
2190
|
Commissioning of electrified trunk route of Delhi-Chennai.
|
|
14.
|
31.01.1992
|
Northern & Central
|
1542
|
Commissioning of electrified trunk route of Delhi-Bombay via Central Railway.
|
|
15.
|
1994-95
|
Central&South Eastern
|
770
|
Commissioning of 2x25 KV OHE system of Bina-Katni and Katni-Anuppur-Bishrampur-Chirimiri.
|
|
16.
|
03.02.2002
|
Eastern & East Central
|
534
|
Inauguration of electrified HWH-DLI route via Patna by then Prime Minister Shri A.B. Bajpayee.
|
|
17.
|
30.05.2003
|
East Central
|
92
|
Inauguration of Patna-Gaya section by Hon’ble President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
|
|
18.
|
29.08.2003
|
Central & Western
|
306
|
Inauguration of Udhna-Jalgaon section.
|
|
19.
|
26.01.2004
|
Northern
|
137
|
Inauguration of Ludhiana-Amritsar section.
|
|
20.
|
29.11.2005
|
South Eastern, East Coast & South Central
|
1117
|
Commissioning of electrified trunk route of Howrah-Chennai (Missing link Kharagpur-Waltair).
|
|
21.
|
06.08.2006
|
Southern
|
37
|
Inauguration of Villupuram ? Pondicherry section by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Puducherry, Shri N. Rangasamy.
|
|
22.
|
30.12.2006
|
Southern
|
320
|
Commissioning of electrified route of Ernakulam-Trivandrum by Hon’ble Minister of Railways Shri Lalu Prasad.
|
| 23. |
24.11.2007 |
Eastern |
127 |
Commissioning of electrified route of Krishnanagar-Lalgola by Hon’ble Minister of Railways Shri Lalu Prasad. |
| 24. |
08.12.2007 |
South Central |
103 |
Commissioning of electrified route of Tirupati-Pakala-Katpadi by Hon’ble Minister of Railways Shri Lalu Prasad. |
2.1 Electrification works in progress:
|
ELECTRIFICATION WORKS IN PROGRESS
|
|
Project
|
Section
|
RKM
|
Energised till
|
Balance
RKM Ason 1.4.07
|
|
|
|
|
31.3.07
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ambala
|
Ambala-Moradabad
|
284
|
259
|
25
|
|
Khurja-Meerutt City-Saharanpur
|
207
|
0
|
207
|
|
Ghazaibad-Meerutt
|
47
|
0
|
47
|
|
Delhi-Sarai Rohilla-Gurgaon
|
30
|
0
|
30
|
|
Jallandhar-Jammutawi
|
222
|
0
|
222
|
| Sakurbasti-Rohtak |
60 |
0 |
60 |
|
Lucknow
|
Rosa-Lucknow-Alamnagar-Utratia
|
179
|
108
|
71
|
|
Mughalsarai-Sultanpur-Utratia
|
288
|
0
|
288
|
|
Kanpur-Jhansi
|
220
|
0
|
220
|
| Gorakhpur |
Barabanki-Gorakhpur |
142 |
0 |
142 |
| Siwan-Thawe |
28 |
0 |
28 |
| Hajipur |
Gorakhpur-Barauni |
587 |
0 |
587 |
| Barauni-Guwahati |
809 |
0 |
809 |
|
Bhubaneswar
|
Jakhapura-Daitari
|
34
|
0
|
34
|
|
Chennai
|
Tirupati-Pakala-Katpadi
|
103
|
62
|
41
|
|
Bangalore suburban area
|
46
|
0
|
46
|
|
Villupuram-Tiruchirapalli
|
178
|
6
|
172
|
|
Bangalore-Kengeri-Mysore
|
137
|
0
|
137
|
|
Tiruchirapalli-Madurai
|
154
|
0
|
154
|
|
Trivandrum-Kanyakumari
|
87
|
0
|
87
|
|
Trichur-Guruvayur
|
22
|
0
|
22
|
|
Secunderabad
|
Lingampalli-Wadi
|
161
|
26
|
135
|
|
Kota
|
Ujjain-Indore incl. Deaws-Maksi
|
115
|
17
|
98
|
|
Bina-Kota
|
309
|
34
|
275
|
|
|
Total
|
4410
|
506
|
3937
|
|
RE works with RVNl/Zonal Railways:-
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nandalur-Guntakal
|
222
|
0
|
222
|
|
|
Obulavaripalli-Krishnapatnam
|
113
|
0
|
113
|
|
|
Bharauch-Samni-Dahej
|
62
|
0
|
62
|
|
|
Chandigarh-Ludhiana
|
112
|
0
|
112
|
|
|
Chandigarh-Buddi (NR)
|
33
|
0
|
33
|
|
|
Daitari-Banspani
|
142
|
0
|
142
|
|
|
Burdwan-Katwa (ER)
|
52
|
0
|
52
|
| |
Pune-Wadi-Guntakal |
641 |
0 |
641 |
|
|
Total
|
736
|
0
|
736
|
|
|
Grand Total
|
5146
|
506
|
4673
|
2.2 Sections identified / surveyed for electrification:
|
SECTIONS IDENTIFIED / SURVEYED FOR ELECTRIFICATION
|
|
Sl.No.
|
SECTION
|
RKM
|
|
1.
|
Udhampur-Baramula
|
293
|
|
2.
|
Gandhidham-Palanpur-Bhildi-Samdari-Kolayak-Phalodi-Lalgarh-Bhatinda
|
1005
|
|
3.
|
Delhi-Rewari-Ringus-Phulera-Ajmer-Chittorgarh-Ratlam incl. Ajmer-Palanpur
|
675
|
|
4.
|
Ghaziabad-Moradabad
|
141
|
|
5.
|
Varanasi-Jangahai-Phaphamau-Unchahar
|
205
|
|
6.
|
Chopan-Chunar
|
100
|
|
7.
|
Jharsuguda-Sambalpur-Titlagarh-Vizianagaram Port
|
494
|
|
8.
|
Koraput-Rayagada-Vizianagaram
|
288
|
|
9.
|
Daund-Manmad
|
237
|
|
10.
|
Hospet-Hubli-Vasco
|
450
|
|
11.
|
Mettupailiyam-Udagmandalam
|
46
|
|
12.
|
Madurai-Tuticorin-Nagercoil
|
262
|
|
13.
|
Shoranur-Mangalore
|
306
|
|
14.
|
Salem-Attur
|
56
|
|
15.
|
Ballharshah-Gondia
|
241
|
|
16.
|
Angul-sukinda
|
100
|
|
17.
|
Garwa Road - Chopan -Sigarauli
|
171
|
|
18.
|
Mansi-Saharsa-Madhepura
|
163
|
|
19.
|
Pandabeswar-Sainthia
|
50
|
|
20.
|
Katwa-Azimganj
|
78
|
|
21.
|
Khana-Kiul via Sahibganj, bhagalpur, Jamalpur
|
403
|
|
22.
|
Sahganj-Mau
|
100
|
|
23.
|
Rampur-Kathgodam
|
89
|
|
24.
|
Mughalsarai-Varanasi-Allahabad
|
142
|
|
25.
|
Kumedpur-Malda Town
|
60
|
|
26.
|
Purnea-Katihar
|
28
|
|
27.
|
New Jalpaiguri-Siliguri-New Mal Jn.-Alipurduar
|
168
|
|
28.
|
Rani Nagar-Haldibari
|
34
|
|
29.
|
New Bongaigaon-Jogihopa-Kamakhya
|
176
|
|
30.
|
Guwahati-Dibrugarh
|
570
|
|
31.
|
Rohtak-Bhatinda-Lehra Muhabat
|
475
|
|
32.
|
Rosa-Budwal
|
163
|
|
33.
|
Delhi-Sahdara-Samli-Saharanpur
|
151
|
|
34.
|
Rajpura-Patiala-Bhatinda
|
174
|
|
35.
|
Zafrabad-Akbarpur-Tanda
|
100
|
|
36.
|
Zafrabad-janghai
|
48
|
|
37.
|
Unchahar-Raibareli-Utraitia
|
103
|
|
38.
|
Haridwar-Rishikesh
|
22
|
|
39.
|
Laksa-Dehradun (via Raiwala)
|
78
|
|
40.
|
Varanasi-Jeonathpur
|
6
|
|
41.
|
Ayodhya-Shahganj
|
78
|
|
42.
|
Gajraula-Bijnor-Muazzampur Narain Jn.
|
95
|
|
43.
|
Sawai Madhopur-Jaipur-Alwar
|
298
|
|
44.
|
Mathura-Rewari-Alwar-Hissar
|
342
|
|
45.
|
Nallapdu-Guntakal
|
426
|
|
46.
|
Pagidipalli-Nadikudi-Nallapadu
|
255
|
|
47.
|
Vijayawada-Gudiwada-Bhimavaram-Nidadavolu
|
155
|
|
48.
|
Manmad-Nanded-Secunderabad
|
621
|
|
48.
|
Guntakal-Bellary-Hospet
|
108
|
|
49.
|
Gooty-Dharmavaram-Bangalore
|
282
|
|
50.
|
Delhi-Sahdara-Samli-Saharanpur
|
151
|
|
51.
|
Jabalpur-Gondia
|
229
|
|
52.
|
Erode-Karur-Tiruchchirapalli and Karur-Dindigul
|
215
|
|
53
|
Coimbatore-Mettupalayam
|
33
|
|
54.
|
Vellore-Villupuram
|
145
|
|
55.
|
Bangalore-Tumkur
|
70
|
|
56.
|
Itarsi-Katni
|
278
|
|
57.
|
Singrauli-Katni
|
270
|
|
58.
|
Katni-Allahabad
|
325
|
|
|
Total
|
12676
|
6.1 Pie chart
1.3.1 Plan wise progress of electrification on Indian Railways:
1.3.2 Year wise cumulative progress of electrification:-
