Indian Railways completes electrification of track up to Guwahati in Northeast India

According to an official release, the electrification work will now connect all major cities of the country with Guwahati on uninterrupted electric traction. This is yet another effort by NFR for capital connectivity through green transport, the release said.

With the electrification of the railway network up to Guwahati, Indian Rail It has said that this will benefit the common people and the economy as a whole in the following ways:

-Additional Rajdhani Express trains can now be started for North Eastern states like Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim.

-15 Pairs of existing trains originating/terminating from Kamakhya/Guwahati can run with one additional passenger coach by replacing one power car, thus improving passenger throughput.

-NF Railway has difficult terrain with a large number of graded sections, curves, bridges. Electric traction will eliminate the need for multi diesel locomotives as higher HP electric engines can maintain higher speeds in the gradient section.

-Guwahati to Katihar/Malda Town running time is likely to be reduced by 2 hours as trains can now run at higher speed due to better acceleration/deceleration.

Increase in line capacity by 10-15% will reduce saturation levels on several sections of NF Railway, allowing more coaching trains to run.

– Potential saving of foreign exchange spent on high speed diesel oil oil ₹300 crores per year.

-High speed diesel oil consumption will be reduced by about 3400KL per month.

Electrification will lead to better maintenance as faster trains will take more time for maintenance blocks.

-By shifting the engine changing point to the terminating point, crew changes due to traction changes can be avoided, saving time and manpower.

– Improved operational efficiency due to reduced movement of light engines of locomotives for refueling purposes.

Electrification will allow heavy goods trains to run at a faster speed.

Due to uninterrupted train operation, the traction change at New Jalpaiguri, New Cooch Behar will now cease, thereby increasing the mobility of trains.

Electric Loco Link Hoffmann Busch (LHB) coach fitted trains will be able to replace the existing power cars with HOG compliant locomotives. This will result in huge fuel savings for power cars (approx.) ₹10 crore on electrified route only !!!!