The electrification of railway track between Wadi in Karnataka and Guntakal in Andhra Pradesh is expected to be completed by March next year.
Addressing presspersons at Raichur Railway Station here on Monday, A.. Sanjeeva Rao, Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer, Guntakal Division, South Central Railways, said the work on the 228 route-km stretch was in its final stage.
“The electrification of the stretch was taken up at a cost of Rs. 194.19 crore. The project is being executed by Rail Vikas Nigam and is expected to be completed within four months. Once the project is commissioned, we can seek more number of trains on the same track. It would be beneficial to public as well as the Railways,” he said. As per the details provided, electrification on the stretches between Wadi and Yedlapur, and Guntakal and Adoni have been completed and the stretch between Adoni and Raichur is under progress. “The completion of electrification between Wadi and Guntakal will enable us to run electric engines between Mumbai and Raichur,” he said.
Mr. Rao said Guntakal division, with 46 per cent of railway track electrification, was carrying 54.54 per cent of goods traffic and 25.12 per cent passenger traffic in the year 2015-16. “Guntakal division is the second largest division in the South Central Railway in terms of length of track network of 1,400 route-km, of which 635 route-km is electrified,” he said.
Mr. Rao said electrification of 46.2 route-km between Guntakal and Ballari section is being executed at a cost of Rs. 92.83 crore and is expected to be completed by November 2017. The electrification of 168 route-km on the Guntakal-Nadyal and Gooty-Pendekal sections is in progress at a cost of Rs. 51.54 crore and is expected to be completed by February 2017. The electrification of Guntakal-Kallur section, a 40.2 route-km stretch, has been awarded to the Rail Vikas Nigam. “Once all the ongoing projects of electrification are completed, the Guntakal division would be top among all the divisions in South Central Railway as far as electrification is concerned,” Mr. Rao said. He clarified that the recently built railway over-bridge would not be demolished for the purpose of track electrification.
