Cabinet approves 100% electrification of railways at a cost of Rs 121.34 bn

This comes at a time when General Electric is set to come up with a diesel locomotive manufacturing unit at Marhowra in Bihar

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal for 100 per cent electrification of all the broad gauge (BG) routes of Railways by 2021-22.

It cleared the proposal for electrification of the balance un-electrified BG routes of Indian Railways comprising 108 sections, covering 13,675 route kilometers (RKM), at a cost of Rs 121.34 billion. This comes at a time when global giant General Electric (GE) is set to come up with a diesel locomotive manufacturing unit at Marhowra in Bihar. 

The Railways had ordered GE to supply 1,000 fuel-efficient Evolution series locomotives in November 2015. The $2.5-billion contract was for