Indian Railways logs highest-ever route electrification despite COVID-19, 37pc jump in one year

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian Railways has logged in the highest-ever figures in the electrification of routes over the past year with a jump of over 37 per cent.

The Railways logged in the electrification of sections covering 6,015 Route Kilometer (RKM) in a single year during 2020-21.

"The latest Broad Gauge network of Indian Railways is 63,949 Route kilometer (RKM) and with 740 km of Konkan Railway is 64,689 RKM, out of which 45,881 RKM (71 per cent) have been electrified by March 31," read the release by the Ministry of Railways.

In the last seven years, more than five times the electrification was achieved compared to the seven years before that, it said.

The ministry said a record 24,080 RKM (37 per cent of present Broad Gauge routes) have been electrified since 2014 against electrification of 4,337 RKM (7 per cent of present Broad Gauge routes) during 2007-14.

Out of the total 45,881 RKM electrified so far, 34 per cent has been electrified in just the last three years, it highlighted.

The Railways had also commissioned a record 56 Traction Sub Stations during 2020-21, as against the previous best of 42, which is an improvement of 33 per cent despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the major sections electrified by the Indian Railways include the Mumbai-Howrah via Jabalpur, the Delhi-Darbhanga-Jaynagar, Gorakhpur-Varanasi via Aunrihar, Jabalpur-Nainpur-Gondia- Ballarshah and Chennai-Trichy, among several others.

( With inputs from ANI )