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Southern Railway has electrified its entire 5,068 route kilometre broad gauge rail network and made it 100 per cent electrified. This is a historic event for Indian Railways. It happened following the statutory inspection of the 71 km Pattukkottai-Karaikkudi section of the rail network of Tamil Nadu, which was completed on September 9, 2026. With the electrification of the Pattukkottai-Karaikkudi section, all broad gauge sections of the railway can run on electric traction without needing to change diesel engines to electric engines.
Final Section Electrification – Pattukkottai-Karaikkudi
The electrification of Pattukkottai-Karaikkudi included the installation and commissioning of overhead electrical equipment (OHE).
Subsequently, statutory inspection was done by Shri Ganesh, Principal Chief Electrical Engineer, Southern Railway.
The statutory inspection signified the electrification of the entire broad gauge network of the zone using 25 kV AC traction.
The electrification effort signifies 95 years of Indian Railways’ history of electrification beginning in 1931 and ending in 2026.
Why Does Full Electrification Have Advantages?
Full electrification is predicted to increase the efficiency of operations for passengers and freight.
- Constant traction: The trains will no longer change from diesel to electric locomotives at junctions, which might decrease delays.
- Speeding up: There are chances to achieve higher speeds with the usage of electric traction because acceleration and deceleration processes become much more efficient.
- Higher utilization of the locomotives: It allows improving the efficiency of using locomotives during passenger and freight services.
- Emission decrease: Higher proportion of electric traction results in lower amount of carbon emission.
The History of Electrification of Southern Railway
Southern Railway started using electric traction about 100 years ago.
On May 11, 1931, the electricity became available in Madras; thus, it was the second Indian city which had electric railway lines, after Bombay. The next important date was 1968 when the Madras Beach-Tambaram line was electrified to 25 kV AC.
Electrification of the Pattukkottai-Karaikkudi route in September 2026 completes the broad gauge system in the zone.
