Indian Railways to electrify its Broad Gauge network: Ashwini Vaishnav

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today, Minister of Railways, Ashwini Vaishnav informed that Indian Railways has embarked on a major electrification program to electrify its Broad Gauge (BG) network.

Ashwini Vaishnav stated that Indian Railways has a total BG network of 64,689 Route kilometers (RKM) including 740 RKM of Konkan Railway. Out of these 45,881 RKM that is about 71% has already been electrified till March 31, 2021.

Electrification work is in progress under different stages of planning/execution on balance BG routes of IR, which are being electrified expeditiously, he further added.

Minister informed that the budget allocation has been done project-wise. For the financial year 2020-2021, the total allocated budget is 6,141 crores.

To complete the projects in time, various steps have been taken which include among others award of large size Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts, better project monitoring mechanism, assured and committed funds through 'Extra Budgetary Resource' and decentralization of powers to field units, Minister further stated.

( With inputs from ANI )