Railway Electrification Gains Momentum
26th March 2025
Currently, about 98% of the Indian Railways' (IR) Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified and balance sections have been taken up
Significant progress has been made in railway electrification in recent years, a comparison of electrification before and after 2014 is as follows:
Statewise Electrification
State wise percentage of tracks already electrified till date are as under:
CO2 emissions (per ton per km)
CO2 emissions in transportation by railways as compared to transportation by road is as under:
Reduction in Fuel Consumption
Further, electrification of railway tracks reduces dependency on fossil fuels, decreased diesel consumption resulting in lower carbon emission. Electrification enables better haulage capacity and higher train speeds, leading to reduced travel time and enhanced efficiency. IR has witnessed reduction in fuel consumption for traction purpose by 136 crore liters during 2023-24 as compared to 2018-19
Challenges / Steps Taken
Mission 100% Electrification is a highly challenging project, as it involves electrifying railway lines that are already in operation and encountering unforeseen various challenges during execution
To expedite railway electrification work, various steps have been taken by Indian Railways which include among others; formation of Project Monitoring Group (PMG) portal to resolve the constraints being faced during commissioning, ensuring effective project monitoring mechanism, assured funding and enhanced financial powers to field units.
The completion of Electrification project(s) depends on various factors like forest clearances by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law & order situation in the area of project(s) site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc. All these factors affect the completion time of the project(s)
Read:
K&A Section on Railways Electrification