Latest technology being used
A cost of Rs.12,134 crore has been approved for the Ministry of Railways’ planned 100% electrification of Broad Gauge (BG) routes and accordingly work for electrification of balance BG routes of 13,675 Route Kilometer.
Minister of State of Railways, Rajen Gohain gave this update to the Rajya Sabha on 21 Dec 2018 in a written reply.
With above, Indian Railways (IR) will be the first major railway in the world to have 100% electrified BG railway network of such size, confirming its commitments towards green and clean environment.
This would reduce energy bill of Railways by about Rs.13,000 crore per annum, reducing diesel oil consumption by about 2.8 billion litres and allowing adoption of renewable sources of energy like solar, wind power.
The IR has also started converting some of its existing Diesel Locomotives into Electric Locomotives in a phased manner.
Work related to conversion of 100 HHP Diesel Locomotives and 100 ALCO Diesel locomotives has been sanctioned under Pink Book 2018-19.
It will add 2,778 electric locomotives during 2018-19 to 2021-22.
The 2018-19 Budget has allocated Rs.5,918.57 crore for loco acquisition.
Acquisition of locos is continuous process and production programme are issued according to the requirement arising out of increased electrification and retirement of older coaches, he said.
Modernisation and improvements of railway track on the Railways is a continuous process.
The various steps taken by Railways are:
Laying of track structure consisting of 60 kg/90 Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) rails on Pre-stressed Reinforced concrete (PSC) sleepers with 1,660 sleepers per km at the time of renewals;
Laying of longer rails, minimizing the use of Alumino Thermic Welding and adoption of better welding technology for rails i.e. Flash Butt Welding, use of thick web switches and weldable Cast Manganese Steel (CMS) crossings, using improved fittings, maintenance of track with the help of track machines, Ultrasonic testing of rails to detect flaws, etc.
In last five years, about 14,613 track km Railway track have been renewed.
Track maintenance practices/latest technology as well as safety norms of advanced foreign Railways are shared/adopted on Indian Railways as per requirement by attending various international conferences, seminars by Indian Railway delegates and visits abroad, he told the house. fiinews.com
