NEW DELHI: On the eve of Diwali, the Railways achieved a major feat to facilitate the faster run of prestigious trains like the Rajdhani, the Tejas-Rajdhani and others from the northeast to New Delhi on the seamless electric tractions faster than earlier.
This has been possible now with the completion of electrification of 647 km of rail route between Katihar in Bihar and Guwahati.
The Railways now switch over the Rajdhani, the Tejas-Rajdhani and other superfast trains to run from northeast states to New Delhi on electric traction.
From October, the North Frontier zone of the Railways has already started running the Brahmaputra Mail on the electric traction from October 22 after the completion of electrification.
Rajiv Jain, additional director general (PR), Railways, said that Guwahati will now be directly connected with big cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, on 25KV AC railway traction.
Outlining the economic benefits, he said that the railways will have a net saving on forex reserves to the tune of Rs 300 crore per year following a reduction in consumption of 3,400 kl of High Speed Diesel (HSD) oil per month.
“Greenhouse gas emission will also fall reducing the carbon footprint,” he said.