New Delhi [India], July 26 (ANI): As many as 14 States or Union Territories have been electrified by the Indian Railways as of June 30, 2023, an official statement said. Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronic & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha said, “As on 30.06.2023, 59,096 Route kilometres (RKM) of Broad Gauge network of Indian Railways (IR) have been electrified. Out of which, 37,011 RKM have been electrified during the past nine years only.”
In his reply, Vaishnaw also said that sometimes, there is some delay in getting statutory clearances required for the execution of electrification works. The Railway Minister in his reply noted that various steps have been taken by the Indian Railways for the timely completion of railway electrification work, such as the formation of Project Monitoring Group. “For timely completion of 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 constraint being faced during commissioning, creation of ‘Gati Shakti Directorate’ in Railway Board for smooth and speedy approval of projects at Railway Board level and ensuring effective project monitoring mechanism,” he said.
“In addition, large size projects are being executed in ‘Engineering Procurement and Construction’ (EPC) contract mode, assured funding is being arranged and financial powers are decentralized to field units to expedite the project execution and completion,” he added.
“Existing Broad Gauge network falling in Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Delhi, Odisha, Haryana, Puducherry, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, J&K, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand have been 100% electrified,” he said.
Vaishnaw said that electrification of 3,614 Route kilometres (RKM) out of 3,710 RKM and 3,435 RKM out of 3,862 RKM have been completed in the States of Bihar and Gujarat respectively. He informed that the Indian Railways has taken several initiatives to reduce its carbon emissions and has aimed to become Net Zero Carbon Emitter by 2030.
“Indian Railways (IR) has aimed to become Net Zero Carbon Emitter by 2030. IR has taken several initiatives to reduce its carbon emissions which include the use of energy-efficient technologies like completely switching over to the production of three-phase electric locomotives with regenerative features, use of head-on generation (HOG) technology, use of LED lights in buildings and coaches, star rated appliances, water conservation and its management and afforestation,” he said.
“Further, the key strategies that have been identified for achieving the Net Zero Carbon emission target are procurement of power through renewable energy sources; shifting from diesel to electric traction; promotion of energy efficiency; and afforestation,” he added. (ANI)
