Movement of freight traffic will receive an impetusfollowing the electrification of the Chitradurga-Chikjajur broad gauge section in the Mysuru division of South Western Railway.
The 30.902 km of the electrified track was inspected by the Commissioner of Railway Safety A.K.Rai on Saturday.
The electrification will help expedite the bulk transportation of iron ore from Chitradurga-Hosapete area to the ports which are connected to the region. The heavily loaded rakes can be hauled with ease at one-sixth the rate incurred by diesel traction.
The inspection also covered Chikjajur Junction station yard. The Chitradurga-Chikjajur stretch is part of the Ballari-Chikjajur Railway Electrification Project (184 km), sanctioned in 2017-18 at a total cost of ₹159.34 crore.
A speed trial with electric locomotive between Chitradurga and Chikjajur was conducted clocking a speed of 103 kmph and this was followed by Short Circuit Test at Chikjajur railway station, according to Manjunath Kanamadi, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager.
Accompanying the CRS in the inspection were Manoj Mahajan, Principal Chief Electrical Engineer, South Western Railway, Hubballi; Rahul Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, South Western Railway, Mysuru Division; Dinesh Jain, General Manager, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd.(RVNL); and other senior officials of the SWR and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd.
Mr. Kanamadi said initially, the power supply for the section from Chitradurga to Chikjajur will be fed from 220/25 kV Thalaku Traction Substation (TSS) through Challakere Sub-Sectioning and Paralleling Post (SSP), Balenahalli Sectioning and Paralleling Post (SP), Haliyuru SP, Amrithapura SSP & Chikjajur SP. Concurrently, permanent power supply arrangements are also under execution. There is no Road Over Bridge (ROB) or Road Under Bridge (RUB) in Chitradurga-Chikjajur section and there are three manned Level Crossings (LC) with caution boards for road users.
In the territorial jurisdiction of the Mysuru Division, electrification work is also underway on the Mysuru-Chamarajanagar (61 km), Birur-Talguppa (161 km), and Sampige Road-Karajgi BG section (294 km) and they are likely to be completed by the end of 2022.
Work on the Mysuru-Hassan-Mangalore (347 km) and Kadur-Chikmagaluru (46 km) BG sections will commence soon, according to the officials. The electrified Mysuru-Yeliyuru BG section (of Mysuru-Bengaluru Double Line Section) began operations in 2019.
The authorities said the pace of railway electrification, which is environment friendly and reduces pollution, has increased nearly ten times since 2014. With a view to transforming Indian Railways into “Green Railways” and to capture the economic benefits of electric traction in an accelerated manner, Railways has planned to electrify balance routes by December 2023 to achieve 100% electrification of BG routes.
This will facilitate elimination of diesel traction resulting in significant reduction in its carbon footprint and environment pollution, the authorities added.
