With the South Central Railway (SCR) completing electrification on two major sections of Renigunta-Guntakal and Lingampalli-Wadi on the Mumbai route, it is all set to run express and passenger trains on electric traction on these routes shortly.
SCR chief public relations officer, K Sambasiva Rao told Express that the Renigunta to Guntakal section on the Chennai-Mumbai route is 310 km long and the Lingampalli to Wadi section on the Secunderabad-Mumbai route is 161 km long. The energisation of the last legs in these sections this week marks a giant step forward in the progressive electrification of all major routes on SCR. Running the trains on electric traction yields several operational and economic benefits. An extended network of electrified railway lines will enable seamless running of trains over long distances without any need for loco change from electric to diesel and vice-versa.
It also reduces the travel time benefiting passengers and freight customers. Due to lesser detentions, the average speed of goods trains and passenger trains increases, which in turn improves the availability of crew and offers pollution-free transportation and considerable fuel economy which is socio-economically beneficial.
Going into the details, he said that on the Renigunta-Guntakal section, the electrification was sanctioned in the year 2004-05 and works started from Renigunta and the track between Renigunta and Muddanur (180 kms) was gradually electrified in various phases during the 2008-12 period.
The electrification project for Lingampalli-Wadi section over 161 route kms (411 track kms) was sanctioned in fiscal year 2006-07. The works commenced from Lingampalli and progressed in a phased manner towards Wadi. The electrification works on Lingampalli-Vikarabad section (50 kms) and Vikarabad-Tandur section (41 kms) have been completed in phases.