Rlys In Major Traction Switchover

This would save almost Rs 150 crore annually for the railways as the present system primarily incurs a lot of transmission losses.

Top brass of the Railway advisory board told Business Standard, The conversion would take place from 1500 units of Direct Current to 25,000 units of Alternating Current. This would entail a substantial investment and the conversion would be spread out over a period of four to five years.

The points chosen for the conversion would be Pune in the west, Birar in the north and Igadhpur in the east.

The Bombay suburban network was the only region in India which did not operate under an AC system. This conversion would bring an uniformity in the railway network.

 

The funding for the entire stretch would be shared between the central government and the Indian Railway Finance Corp. The modalities of the funding arrangement has yet to be firmed up as the project is still in its initial stages.

This is all the more required in the wake of rapid development in the Virar and Pune industrial area and suburban services operating at 85 to 90 per cent capacity.