The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) of NF Circle, Md. Latief Khan conducted an inspection of the newly-electrified Rangiya-Kamakhya section on March 30, 2021 and New Coochbehar-Shrirampur section on March 31, 2021, totaling 99 Route KM.
“With this, Railways have come closer to fulfilling the long-standing demand of the people of Northeast India of running trains with electric traction to and from Guwahati, the gateway to Northeastern region,” said the chief public relations officer of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), Subhanan Chanda.
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“Continuing with the work of Railway electrification, Northeast Frontier Railway has successfully completed the inspection and speed trial-cum-current collection test for 334 Route KM in 2020-21,” Chanda said in a statement.
Before inspection of the Rangiya-Kamakhya section and New Coochbehar-Shrirampur section, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) of NF Circle inspected the portion from New Bongaigaon to Rangiya, the NF Railway CPRO said.
Indian Railways has logged highest ever electrification of sections covering 6,015 Route Kilometre (RKM) in single year during 2020-21.
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“Despite COVID pandemic, it has surpassed the previous highest of 5,276 RKM achieved in 2018-19,” the statement said.
“Railway electrification work is under various stages of execution in various sections over NF Railway,” it said.
The whole of NF Railway track, including branch lines, was sanctioned for 100% electrification in the Union Budget of 2017-18.
The total cost of the entire electrification work is Rs. 2,542.62 crore (approx).
The much-awaited electrification reached New Jalpaiguri in 2019.
Thereafter, electrification work in the New Jalpaiguri-New Coochbehar section was also completed last year and operation of passenger carrying trains with electric traction started.
“At present, some important passenger carrying trains of Northeast Frontier Railway are running with electric locomotive from New Coochbehar, New Jalpaiguri and Katihar towards various destinations of our country in addition to several freight trains,” the NF Railway CPRO informed.
Without CRS authorization, passenger trains can’t be operated with electric locomotive.
“The electrification work up to Guwahati is expected to be completed within next few months,” Chanda said.
The entire tracks of Northeast are targeted to be electrified by the end of 2023, the NF Railway CPRO further said.
“The introduction of electric trains will lead to better connectivity of Northeast region to rest part of India. It will also be a great boost for environment as conventional engines uses fossil fuel to produce energy which causes pollution,” Chanda further said.