The Northern Railway zone of Indian Railways has completed the electrification work of 130 km section in the states of Punjab and Haryana. This will ensure that diesel locomotives are not used in the stretch anymore, according to a PTI report. The railway lines that were electrified include Dhuri (Punjab)-Jakhal (Haryana) line which is 62 km long and the Dhuri-Lehra Muhabbat single line in Ambala Division which is 68 km long, Northern Railways stated. In these sections, a speed trial was done for up to 120 kmph. The section from Dhuri to Jakhal in the significant Ludhiana-Dhuri-Jakhal railway line is a line connecting Ludhiana and Jakhal. While the section of Dhuri-Lehra Muhabbat falls in the Rajpura-Bhatinda railway line and will be significant as with this the mobility will improve.
According to an official, while the major routes on the Northern Railway zone have been electrified, there are patches where trains get delayed because, on them, the electric locomotive has to be changed to diesel locomotive. Now, with these sections being electrified, it will be a seamless travel and there will be no delays. The official further said that this will also save energy.
The Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety, Shailesh Kumar Pathak, carried out the intensive inspections of the sections. The detailed safety inspections of Dhuri-Jakhal section and Dhuri-Lehra Muhabbat section was conducted by Pathak, using Motor Trolley. Later, on these sections, current collection tests as well as speed trials by electric locomotive were also conducted. Between Jakhal-Dhuri and Lehra Muhabbat-Dhuri sections, the speed trial with up to 120 kmph was successfully recorded.
As of now, electrification is done on over 40,000 RKM, which is 63% of broad gauge routes. During the period 2014-2020, a total of 18,605 km has been electrified. The national transporter has set a target of electrifying 7000 RKM in the year 2020-21. All railway routes on the broad gauge network are planned to be electrified by December 2023. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian Railways had commissioned 365 RKM for electrification.