Indian Railways’ boost to rail electrification; electrifies Dighawara-Bandikui section between Ajmer and Delhi

Electrification of Dighawara-Bandikui section: Recently, the newly electrified Dighawara-Bandikui section of Indian Railways’ North Western railway zone was inaugurated by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. On this newly electrified route, the minister flagged off the first train at the function organized at Dhigawara railway station. According to Goyal, the electrification work in Rajasthan was done on the Kota-Mumbai railway line around 35 years ago, and after that, no attention was paid to this area. While working on this section, a target has been set by the national transporter to electrify the entire percentage of railway lines across the country, the minister said.

While talking about the state of Rajasthan, the minister said that till 2009-14, there was no electrification work in this area which in the last five a half years (till September 2020), was 1433 kilometres i.e. 240 kilometres route was electrified by Indian Railways every year. After this railway line’s electrification, the rail route from Rewari to Ajmer has now been electrified and soon, electrified train services from Delhi to Ajmer will start, Goyal said. After running of these electrified trains, the trains that run on diesel will be stopped. The minister said the move will eliminate pollution and also, the dependence on the fuel imported from outside. Therefore, trains will run from the electricity produced in India, which is expected to save significant revenue.

Additionally, the trains’ average speed will increase and there will be development of industries, agro-based businesses as well as progress of farmers and villagers. In a bid to avoid any inconvenience to the farmers, Indian Railways is running Kisan Rail to transport their agricultural products. According to the Railway Minister, the work of electrification is being done by the CORE, Prayagraj. The Central Organization for Railway Electrification sanctioned Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Madar (Ajmer) section’s electrification work and was handed over to Rail Electrification project, Jaipur. For the electrification works on Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Madar (Ajmer) railway section, a total of 23418 foundations, as many as 26 switching stations, six traction sub stations as well as seven OHE depots have been set up.