Large-sized Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts, assured funds and better project monitoring are among measures taken to speed up electrification work by Indian Railways.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Rajya Sabha of this in a written reply.
The minister’s response added that decentralization of powers to field units, utilisation of technology” were also among measures used to expedite work.
The Ministry of Railways has targeted 100% electrification of the Indian Railways Broad Gauge routes by December 2023. As of 1st April 2020, 39,866 kilometres of the route was electrified, the minister stated in his response.
The number has likely exceeded 40,000 km in the wake of several new stretches of track being electrified in the past five months.
Zone-wise Details of Electrification As on 1st April 2020
| ZonalRailways | Total BG RouteKilometer | Electrified RouteKilometer | Balance RouteKilometer As on 01.04.2020 |
| Central | 3,853 | 2,928 | 925 |
| East Coast | 2,774 | 2,774 | 0 |
| East Central | 3,883 | 3,336 | 547 |
| Eastern | 2,804 | 2,235 | 569 |
| North Central | 3,222 | 2,569 | 653 |
| North Eastern | 2,994 | 1,738 | 1,256 |
| Northeast Frontier | 4,112 | 319 | 3,793 |
| Northern | 7,057 | 4,816 | 2,241 |
| North Western | 5,083 | 1,801 | 3,282 |
| South Central | 6,058 | 3,744 | 2,314 |
| South East central | 2,099 | 1,863 | 236 |
| South Eastern | 2,713 | 2,392 | 321 |
| Southern | 4,834 | 3,381 | 1,453 |
| South Western | 3,566 | 731 | 2,835 |
| West Central | 3,010 | 2,525 | 485 |
| Western | 4,805 | 2,578 | 2,227 |
| METRO Railway | 27 | 27 | 0 |
| Konkan Railway Corporation Limited | 737 | 109 | 628 |
| TOTAL | 63,631 | 39,866 | 23,765 |
CORE had earlier set itself a target of electrification of 4,056 km of route in this financial year.