59,524 km length of broad gauge rail line electrified: Ashwini Vaishnaw

New Delhi [India], August 10 (ANI): A total of 59,524 km length of broad gauge (BG) rail line has been electrified in India so far, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed Parliament in a written reply.

In response to a question by a member in Lok Sabha yesterday, the Minister said electrification of rail line offers benefits such as reduced operating cost, haulage of heavier freight trains and longer passenger trains, among others.

“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 and 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). As such the confirmed time frame for completion of project(s) cannot be ascertained at this stage,” Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronic and Information Technology Vaishnaw said in the written reply.

Further, he also apprised the House about the steps taken to increase the speed of the trains. He said sectional speed has been raised to 130 kmph over 10,400 route km.

“Works for raising of sectional speed to 160 kmph on existing New Delhi-Mumbai (incl. Vadodara-Ahmedabad) and New Delhi-Howrah (incl Kanpur-Lucknow) routes have been sanctioned costing Rs 6806 Cr. and Rs 6685 Cr. Respectively,” the minister said.