Indian Railways to issue tenders for electrification of 1500 KM

New Delhi Nov 14: In a move to reduce the cost of electrification of railway tracks the Indian Railways has decided to tender 1,500km under the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) model for electrification of railway lines, in order to achieve its target of complete electrification by 2021.

Railway officials have said that "We plan to make large packages ranging from 400km to 1,500km under EPC contracts. The deal will bring good value and expedite the process. Besides, from now on, all electrification contracts would be in EPC mode."

They hope that that tendering large tracks would reduce the costs for the railways which currently spends around Rs 1-2 crore per km to electrify tracks.

Earlier railway minister Piyush Goyal has said that "I have directed the electrification directorate to issue electrification tenders with minimum 500km of track length. This will ensure speedy electrification and cost reduction."

Indian Railways currently plans to electrify 24,400 km of railway tracks over a period of five years ending in 2021 at a cost of Rs 35,000 crore.

The railways till now has electrified 40 percent of its total track length of 66,000 km.