BELAGAVI
With the Indian Railways moving towards becoming a “net zero carbon emitter” before 2030, the South Western Railway (SWR) has also accelerated the electrification of the Londa-Vasco section, targeted to be completed by March 2022.
Complete electrification of the Indian Railways will result in savings of approximately Rs 13,500 crore per annum and SWR is on the fast track of electrification, SWR officials said.
SWR sources said at least 60 trains are proposed to be run with electric traction by March 2022, resulting in Rs 9.05 crore savings per month.
The SWR has also initiated the installation of solar plants over rooftops of railway buildings to harness clean energy.
Apart from Mysuru and Bengaluru divisions, nine stations in Hubballi Division -- SSS Hubballi, Dharwad, Vasco, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Hosapete, Ballari, Gadag and Londa -- have been certified with ISO 14001: 2015 certification till date.
Electrification work on the Hubballi-Vasco section has also commenced.
“The Hubbali-Alnavar 65 km route was completed in March, while the Alnavar-Londa 35 km route is expected to be completed by August,” Chief PRO Aneesh Hegde said.
Going by the pace of electrification, SWR has a target to complete the Londa-Tinaighat-Castle Rock-Vasco section in record time.
“With the onset of monsoon, it becomes challenging to implement the electrification. However, we anticipate that electrification from Londa to Tinaighat too would be completed by August,” said Hegde.
He added that the entire section till Castle Rock could be electrified by December this year, as SWR will immediately take up the work soon after the completion of Alnavar-Londa-Tinaighat section.
Asked about the double-tracking and electrification of the ghat section, he said the Braganza Ghat section is a very challenging terrain and that entire work has been targeted to be completed by December 22.
With electrification to provide power supply on board the coaches, Head on Generation technology will be used which will draw electricity directly from overhead line and diesel generator use will be stopped.
This will result in significant savings and reduction of pollution, SWR officials have stated.
