Karur - Salem BG section to get electrified by December

‘This will result in saving of precious fuel, besides avoiding loco change for trains’
Electrification of the Karur - Salem broad gauge section has reached the advanced stage and is expected to be completed by December. The 85-kilometre stretch from Karur to Salem is the third major section were electrification work is going after completion of work on the Erode-Karur-Tiruchi and Karur - Dindigul broad gauge sections.

The Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE), under the Ministry of Railways, is executing the electrification project in the Karur - Salem section via Namakkal and Rasipuram.

Divisional Railway Manager, Salem U. Subba Rao told The Hindu over phone on Monday that the target was to complete the electrification works on the Karur - Salem BG section by December. The project was in the advanced stage, he said adding that a traction sub station had been established as part of the project at Namakkal.

The CORE had taken up three major electrification projects with Karur as the focal point. The 140-kilometre Erode - Karur - Tiruchi BG section was electrified and was commissioned early this year followed by electrification of the 73-kilometre Karur - Dindigul section. Electric loco hauled rail services were currently being operated in both these energised sections.

Electrification of Karur - Salem section would result in saving of precious fuel besides avoiding loco change for trains, said the Divisional Railway Manager. Further, trains hauled by electric locomotives would have faster acceleration, he said. The combined cost of the three major electrification projects was about Rs. 350 crore, he said.

Besides executing the Karur-Salem electrification works, the CORE is also simultaneously engaged in electrification of the Tiruchi - Thanjavur (50 km) and Thanjavur - Karaikal Port broad gauge sections (103 km). These two sections are targetted to be electrified during the current fiscal, according to CORE.

Source