Gandhinagar: The electrification on the broad guage railway line in length of 70 km is yet to complete on Ahmedabad – Udaipur route. Due to lack of end-to-end electrification, the railway connectivity is not as much and as fast as it should be on Ahmedabad – Udaipur route.

Electrification of railway line is must for operating electric engine run trains. It is important to run some premium trains also. For example, two main requirement to launch Vande Bahrat Express on any railway route are – broad guage and electrification of railway line. While Ahmedabad – Udaipur route deserves Vande Bharat Express, it’s not possible till there’s total electrification of this line.

According to Railway Ministry’s reply in ongoing session of Lok Sabha – ‘The electrification of 227 Route km (RKM) out of 297 RKM between Udaipur-Ahmedabad has been completed. The work between Bechhiwara to Himmatnagar (70 RKM) are taken up.’ (note: RKM stands for Raiwlay Kilometers)

The Railways further stated – ‘Expenditure of ₹201.32 crore has been incurred for this project. Necessary funds to complete the project have been provided.’

The statement in reply to a question also added – ‘The completion of Electrification project(s) depends on various factors like forest clearances, right of way for the incoming transmission lines and its commissioning, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law & order situation in the area of project(s) site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc. All these factors affect the completion time of the project(s).’ DeshGujarat