Piyush Goyal inaugurates a recently electrified section on the Delhi-Ajmer route

NEW DELHI: Union minister for railways Piyush Goyal on Sunday inaugurated the newly electrified Dhigawara-Bandikui section of North Western Railway and flagged off the first train on this newly electrified route.

After the electrification of this line, the route from Rewari to Ajmer has been electrified and now the electrified trains from Delhi to Ajmer will start soon, the railway ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

After running of these trains, the diesel trains will be stopped, which will eliminate pollution as well as the dependence on the fuel imported from outside and trains will be operated from the electricity produced in self-reliant India, and will also save significant revenue, the ministry said.

The electrification work is being done by the Central Organization for Railway Electrification (CORE), Prayagraj. The electrification of Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Madar (Ajmer) section was sanctioned by CORE and handed over to rail electrification project, Jaipur.

A total of 23,418 foundations, 26 switching stations, 6 traction sub-stations and 7 overhead equipment (OHE) depots have been set up for electrification on Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Madar (Ajmer).

The electrification work was done on the Kota-Mumbai line in Rajasthan 35 years ago, after that no one paid attention to this area, Goyal was quoted as saying in the statement. “While working on this in the railways, a target has been set to electrify the entire percentage of railway lines across India,” Goyal added.

The Indian Railways has set a target to complete Electrification of its Broad gauge network by December 2023. More than 66% of the broad gauge route has already been electrified, the ministry said.

With 18,065 km of electrification, Railways have recorded a 371 % increase in electrification during 2014-20 period as compared to 2009-2014.

Around 28,143 km of Railway Track electrification is targeted to be complete by December 2023.