Gandhinagar: Gujarat has achieved 100 percent electrification of broad gauge railway lines. Gujarat comes under the Western Railway and on 31st March 2025, the entire Western Railway has also achieved 100 percent railway electrification. With this, diesel engine-run trains can pass through the entire railway network across Western Railway, including Gujarat. It’s worth noting that on 1st April 2014, Gujarat had just 785 electrified broad gauge km railway lines. In just 11 years, the count has jumped to 4,027 km, which is the total length of broad gauge lines in Gujarat. With this, on 31st March 2025, Gujarat has found a place among 25 Indian States that have achieved 100 percent railway electrification.

The only states where 100 percent electrification is yet to be achieved are Rajasthan (93 km left), Karnataka (151), Tamil Nadu (169), Goa (16), and Assam (382). This task of electrification of a total of 811 km is likely to be completed in a year or two.

Electrification of railway lines means saving on account of huge diesel costs. Diesel as a fuel is vulnerable to the ups and downs of crude oil prices internationally. The rate of electricity is more stable and less vulnerable. Railways can also, in the future, generate electricity on its own. While diesel as a fuel would cause pollution, electric power can be generated through clean energy sources as well. Diesel would require an entire chain of transportation, storage, pumping, and also require land for that. Diesel engines also have many disadvantages compared to electric ones. Partial electrification is creating a lot of problems for many areas. As an example, just two years ago, the railway lines of Dwarka, Okha, Porbandar, etc. routes were not electrified, and therefore an electric train would come up to Rajkot and then the electric engine would be replaced with a diesel engine at Rajkot so that the train could reach Dwarka, Okha, or Porbandar. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Rajkot visit a couple of years ago, inaugurated the electrification of this railway line and therefore Vande Bharat could reach Dwarka and Okha. Also, the time that was wasted for the change of railway engine was avoided with the introduction of electrification of the Porbandar route.DeshGujarat

STATE WISE ELECTRIFIED NETWORK (RKM) 31st March 2025