SCR completes electrification of Dharmavaram - Pakala section

Hyderabad: South Central Railway has achieved one more milestone in the path of electrification of railway lines across its network by completing the electrification works between the entire stretch of Dharmavaram-Pakala section of Andhra Pradesh.

The last stretch of Kalikiri-Tummanamgutta for a distance of 50 Kms in Dharmavaram-Pakala section has now been electrified giving boost to Mission electrification. This has led to major infrastructure enhancement particularly in the Rayalaseema region in the state of Andhra Pradesh duly facilitating for the introduction of electric traction in the interior sections of the Anantapur, Kurnool and Chittoor districts of Rayalaseema region.

The trains can be now operated with electric traction on end to end basis destined to Tirupati, Katpadi, Chennai and beyond via Dharmavaram, Kadiri, Pakala. The Railway lines of the entire Guntakal Division have now been electrified.

According to officials, the section between Kalikiri - Tummanamgutta for a distance of 50 Kms has been electrified as part of the Dharmavaram - Pakala electrification project. This project has been sanctioned in the year 2017-18 for a distance of 228 Kms at an estimated cost of Rs 253 Crores.

The section between Dharmavaram - Kadiri for a distance of 68 Route Kms was completed in March 2021 and the sections between Kadiri - Tummanamgutta for 54 Kms and Pakala - Kalikiri for 56 Kms have been electrified in March 2022.

The last stretch in the section between Tummanamgutta - Kalikiri for 50 Kms has now been completed marking the completion of Dharmavaram – Pakala electrification project as well as the electrification of the entire Guntakal Division.

The electrification of railway lines have short term as well as long term benefits which including, providing seamless movement of trains by avoiding change in traction power.

It will be reduced enroute detention of both the coaching and freight trains and can improve the average speed of the trains (by reducing detention), besides providing an environment-friendly means of powering the trains, while saving fuel costs at the same time.

In a release here on Monday, South Central Railway General Manager (In-charge) Arun Kumar Jain complimented the railway officials of Guntakal division and Electric Wing at both the Zonal and Divisional levels for their dedicated efforts in completing the electrification projects on fast pace.

He also advised to speed up the electrification works across the zone so as to complete all works within the end of year 2023.