About 94% of total Broad Gauge Network of the Indian Railways has been electrified, Ministry of Railways has stated.
“At present, 61,813 route km on BG network has been electrified, which is about 94% of the total network,” a spokesperson from the Railways Ministry stated. The figure shared is the work completed until December last year.
During 2014-23, ₹43,346 crore have been spent on electrification. Further, ₹8,070 crore have been allocated for electrification during 2023-24.
As on April 1, last year, across Indian Railways, 459 Railway Infrastructure projects including 189 New Line, 39 Gauge Conversion and 231 Doubling of total length 46,360 km, costing approximately ₹7.18 lakh crore are in planning, approval, and construction stage.
While 40,000 bogies are slated to be converted to better standards, the Ministry of Railways said that since 2015, about 23,000 conventional coaches have been replaced by LHB coaches.
Salient features of LHB coaches include better ride quality index, Centre Buffer Coupler for enhanced safety and anti-climbing features, Axle mounted Disc brake system, Sturdy and Robust design to minimise damage and obviating capsizing of coaches during accidents, provision of Bio-toilets, Higher Seating Capacity, Large panoramic windows, FRP (Fibre Reinforced Plastic) panels in AC coaches, Microprocessor controlled AC and so on.
With regards to the roll out of Kavach tenders and completion of work, Ministry of Railways said that optical fibre has been laid out for 3,040 kms, up to 269 telecom towers have been installed, 186 stations have been provided with the equipment, and 170 locomotives have been equipped, as well 827 kms of track side equipment has been installed.
