IN NE: Railway Electrification Of Track Accorded Priority

THE  Union  Cabinet Committee’s  Economic  Affairs  has accorded  priority  to the  electrification  of railway  electrification  programs in the  north-eastern region of India. At a recent meet , the electrification projects  were  reviewed and previously sanctioned track electrification was prioritized. According to official sources, railway track electrification up to Guwahati will be completed by 2020 and electrification work of all non-electrified sections in the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) zone will also be carried out in phases. The Indian Railways has about 13,675 km of non-electrified broad gauge railway tracks. Out of these, 2,536 km are ls under NFR. Presently, the only electrified portion of NFR is between Katihar and Malda Court stations via Kumedpur. Electrification work of the balance portion of non-electrified tracks has been segregated into different segments and targeted for completion in a phased manner,” Pranav Jyoti Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer of NFR, told media in Guwahati. In the NFR zone, work has been distributed to Centre for Railway Electrification (CORE) and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) for carrying out electrification projects. RVNL is assigned for completing the Raninagar Jalpaiguri to Guwahati via Rangiya portion (382 km) and the New Bongaigaon to Kamakhya via Goalpara (175 km) and Guwahati to Dibrugarh via Lumding (661 km) will be implemented by CORE. Contracts have been awarded and work is in various stages of progress in all these portions. Lumding-Badarpur (172 km), Badarpur-Karimganj-Agartala-Sabroom-Akhaura, including all branch lines to Silchar, Jiribam, Bhairabi, Dullabcherra and Mahishasan (590 km) have also been sanctioned and will be implemented by CORE, Sharma said.Other branch lines including  Coochbehar-Golokganj-Dhubri, Rangiya-Rangapara-Harmuti-Naharlagun, Chaparmukh-Silghat, Mariani-Furkating via Jorhat, and Tinsukia-Makum-Tirap have also received the required sanction for electrification, The CPRO said (With The Assam Tribune& NE India24. com inputs).