Indian Railways achieves 100% electrification milestone in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): The national transporter of India, Indian Railways has achived a big milestone towards becoming a “net zero carbon emitter” of the world before 2030. The Railway has recently completed 100 per cent electrification in all routes in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand states.

With the completion of electrification of Subhagpur-Pachperwa Broad Gauge (BG) route in North Eastern Railway, Indian Railways has completed the electrification of all BG routes in Uttar Pradesh. This will improve rail connectivity in the region and will improve the speed of trains in the region.

Similarily, the existing Broad Gauge network of Uttarakhand is 347 Route kilometre, which is 100% electrified, resulting in saving on account of reduced line haul cost (about 2.5 times lower), heavier haulage capacity, increased sectional capacity, reduced operating & maintenance cost of electric loco, energy efficient and eco-friendly mode of transportation with reduced dependence on imported crude oil, saving of foreign exchange. 

Uttarakhand state’s territory falls in Northern & North Eastern Railway’s jurisdiction. Some of the major railway stations in Uttarakhand are: Dehradun, Haridwar, Roorkee, Rishikesh, Kathgodam, Tanakpur.  Some of them have religious importance and some are tourist attractive places. Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri, Gangotri, Hemkund Sahib, Mussoorie, Nainital, Jim Carbet & Haridwar are a few to name. Kathgodam station is an important station with annual passenger footfall of about 7 lacs and this terminating station acts as entry of Kumaun region of Uttrakhand.  First train to this station reached on 24 April 1884.

Some of the prestigious trains of Uttarakhand state are: Nanda Devi, Haridwar Express, Mussoorie Express, Utkal Express, Kumaon Express, Doon Express & Shatabdi Express. These trains provide convenient connectivity to various parts of the state and other major cities in India, helping greatly to state in tourism business.

Further, Rishikesh to Karnprayag, a new line work is under construction which will be another landmark achievement of Indian Railways, bringing Char Dham pilgrimage route on Indian Railways’ circuit. This route is sanctioned along with electrification, in sync with Railways’ policy of 100% electrified network.

With this achievement, Indian Railways has completed electrification of BG routes in six zonal railways namely, East Coast Railway, North Central Railway, North Eastern Railway, Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway, West Central Railway. Also, Highly Utilized Network (HUN-5), Jhansi-Muzzaffarpur-Katni is fully electrified now. This will improve connectivity between Jhansi-Lucknow-Barabanki-Burhwal, Gonda-Anandnagar-Gorakhpur-Valmikinagar-Sugauli, Muzzaffarpur-Bachwara and Narkatiyaganj-Raxual-Sitamarhi-Darbhanga-Samastipur, Sitamarhi-Muzzaffarpur-Hazipur including Bhatni-Varanasi—Naini(Allahabad)-Manikpur-Satna-Katni and Chhapra-Varanasi.