Salem Division, Southern Railway, to go for electrification for entire Division

Salem Division, one of the performing Divisions of Southern Railway, is now planning to electrify the entire Salem Division tracks, to better train connectivity and ease of operation.

As on date, out of the total  862 route Kms under Salem Division, the rail link between Tiruppathur and Podhanur junctions (measuring 266 route kms), the link between Salem and Mettur Dam (measuring 38.71 route kms) and the link between Coimbatore North and Mettupalayam (measuring 34 route kms) have been electrified. This makes the total electrified traction in Salem Division, to 338.71 route kilometers.  The remaining rail tracks in Salem Division are now planned to be electrified in phases.

In the first phase, the Salem-Karur-Eriyodu (Dindigul) & Erode-Tiruchchirappalli Fort rail link under the control of Salem Division, measuring about 302 route kilometers will be taken up for electrification at an estimated cost of Rs.357 crores which cost includes the electrical, engineering and signaling works. The project has been sanctioned in the Railway Budget for the year 2015-16 presented in the Parliament by the Hon’ble Minister for Railways, Sri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, The rail link between Salem and Vridhachalam will be taken up for electrification at a later stage.

The electrification of the traction will help continuity of train services, without changing the locomotives (train engines) from Diesel to Electric and vice versa, thus saving a considerable amount of time. Once, the Salem-Namakkal-Karur traction is electrified, such trains can be operated with Electric locomotives with more efficiency.  Certain trains that need change of locomotive at Salem/Erode, such as Mumbai CST-Kanyakumari/Nagercoil Express & Chennai Central-Madurai, Duronto Express trains can be operated without the need for change of locomotives in between. This will ensure improve operational efficiency, apart from saving valuable foreign exchange towards cost of fuel.

The electrification project works are being carried out under the supervision of Sri K.V.V. Sathyanarayana, Chief Project Manager/Railway Electrification, Southern Railway, and his team of officers.