Data modification helps govt add miles to Railways' electrification drive

According to the data available with railways, from 2010-11 to 2013-14, only 2,617 rkm had been electrified, as compared to 8,411 rkm in the next four years

In the last five years, the Indian Railways added around 10,500 route kilometre (rkm) of electrification of tracks. However, an analysis of the numbers indicates that a change in electrification criterion in April 2017, with retrospective effect, helped the government add “already electrified 3,090 rkm” to its credit. 

In March 2015, the Indian Railways had informed the Lok Sabha that 38 per cent, or 24,891 rkm, of the total 65,436 rkm was electrified. In December 2018, it further added that 30,212 or 44.8 per cent of the entire network had been electrified. 

Going by this data, railways had added only