Parliament Question: Electrification of Railway Lines

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 563 TO BE ANSWERED ON 22.07.2026 ELECTRIFICATION OF RAILWAY LINES 563. SHRI ARUN BHARTI: SHRI ATUL GARG: DR. D. PURANDESWARI: SMT. SHAMBHAVI: DR. LATA WANKHEDE: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the details of the number of Railway lines electrified in kilometres since 2014 compared to the last six decades including the acceleration strategy was adopted for this change; (b) the details of the numbers of railway zones and coverage across all the states that have achieved complete broad-gauge electrification including the zones and timelines for remaining network completion particularly in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh; (c) whether India's electrification rate positions it ahead of the developing countries and if so, the details thereof including the global standing among major rail networks; (d) whether transition from diesel to electric traction has avoided industrial pollution and if so, the details thereof including the diesel savings and associated cost reduction achieved; and § Page 1 of 6(e) whether electrified railways enable the integration of solar and wind renewable energy for traction power and if so, the details thereof including the capacity of renewable energy infrastructure is being deployed to support net-zero emission goals? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (e) Electrification of railway network on Indian Railways has been taken up in mission mode. So far, about 99.6% of Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified. The electrification in remaining network has been taken up. Electrification carried out during 2014-26 and before 2014 is as under: Period Route Kilometer Before 2014 (about 60 years) 21,801 2014-26 48,072 Further, all new line / multi-tracking projects are being sanctioned and constructed with electrification. Mission 100% Electrification is a highly challenging project, as it involves electrifying railway lines that are already in operation and encountering unforeseen various challenges during execution. To expedite railway electrification work, various steps have been taken by Indian Railways which include among others; formation of Project Monitoring Group (PMG) portal to resolve the constraints being faced during commissioning, ensuring effective project monitoring mechanism, assured funding and enhanced financial powers to field units. Page 2 of 6Zone wise status of electrification is as under: SN ZONE % Electrified 1 Central Railway 100% 2 East Coast Railway 100% 3 East Central Railway 100% 4 Eastern Railway 100% 5 Konkan Railway 100% 6 Kolkata Metro 100% 7 North Central Railway 100% 8 North Eastern Railway 100% 9 Northern Railway 100% 10 South Central Railway 100% 11 South Coast Railway 100% 12 South East Central Railway 100% 13 South Eastern Railway 100% 14 West Central Railway 100% 15 Western Railway 100% 16 North Western Railway 99.8% 17 Northeast Frontier Railway 98.7% 18 Southern Railway 98.7% 19 South Western Railway 96.1% State/UT wise status of electrification including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is as under: Page 3 of 6% % SN STATE SN STATE Electrified Electrified 1 Andhra Pradesh 100% 16 Mizoram 100% Arunachal 2 100% 17 Nagaland 100% Pradesh 3 Bihar 100% 18 Odisha 100% 4 Chandigarh 100% 19 Puducherry 100% 5 Chhattisgarh 100% 20 Punjab 100% 6 Delhi 100% 21 Telangana 100% 7 Gujarat 100% 22 Tripura 100% Uttar 8 Haryana 100% 23 100% Pradesh Himachal 9 100% 24 Uttarakhand 100% Pradesh Jammu & 10 100% 25 West Bengal 100% Kashmir 11 Jharkhand 100% 26 Rajasthan 99.8% 12 Kerala 100% 27 Tamil Nadu 98.3% 13 Madhya Pradesh 100% 28 Assam 97.9% 14 Maharashtra 100% 29 Karnataka 96.8% 15 Meghalaya 100% 30 Goa 91.4% Indian Railways (IR) has undertaken one of the fastest railway electrification programs in the world. While many countries prioritize electrifying only their busiest passenger and freight corridors, India has chosen to electrify its entire broad gauge network. Indian Railways’ achievement in railway electrification stand out globally. According to the latest report of International Union of Railways (UIC) of June, 2025, railway electrification in important railway systems is as under: Page 4 of 6Country Railway Electrification Switzerland 100% India 99.6% China 82% Spain 67% Japan 64% France 60% United Kingdom 39% By network coverage, Indian Railways is now among the most extensively electrified large railway systems in the world. Indian Railways had electrified 99.6% of its broad-gauge network, completing one of the world’s largest infrastructure transformation programs in a decade. Electric traction is not only environmental friendly but energy efficient also. Reduction in CO emissions in transportation by railways as 2 compared to transportation by road is as under (Ref:- NITI Aayog Report titled “Fast Tracking Freight In India”, June 2021) Mode of CO emission for transportation of 1 2 Transportation tonne for 1 km Road 101 gm Rail 11.5 gm (about 89% less) Further, electrification of railway tracks reduces dependency on fossil fuels, decreased diesel consumption resulting in lower carbon emission. Electrification enables better haulage capacity and higher train speeds, leading to reduced travel time and enhanced efficiency. Page 5 of 6Reduction in IR’s diesel consumption for traction purpose by 185 crore litres with about 108 crore litres consumption in 2024-25 as compared to 293 crore litres in 2015-16. This has resulted in saving of precious foreign exchange with Government of India exchequer, which would have otherwise been needed for import of fuel which has been saved due to electrification. Electrified railways are well suited for integrating solar, wind & other renewable energy into traction power systems, making them most effective transport systems for utilizing renewable electricity. Indian Railways is committed to sustainable operations through near total Railway Electrification combined with use of renewable energy sources, based on strategic power procurement planning, thus contributing to carbon footprint reduction. Indian Railways aims to progressively meet its electric traction power requirements through renewable energy sources including solar, wind and hybrid systems (solar, wind and energy storage) thereby reducing carbon footprints of IR. As of June, 2026 about 1161 Mega Watt (MW) of solar plants (both on Rooftops and on land) and about 103 MW of Wind power plants have been commissioned. ***** Page 6 of 6