Indian Railways poised to switching over from 1500 Volt D.C. to 25000 Volt A.C. traction everywhere on its system.

New Delhi: To cater to the ever increasing traffic requirements in Mumbai area and for better reliability of suburban services, the work of conversion from 1500 Volt Direct Current(D.C.) to to 25000 Volt Alternating Current (A.C.) traction system was sanctioned over Central & Western Railways. This work, of very complex nature, is being carried out on the busiest network of Indian Railways without any disruption to sensitive commuter traffic. The entire work on Western Railway was completed in 2012-13 and on Central Railway Vasai-Jasai, Pune- -Kalyan, Igatpuri-Kalyan, Panvel-Karjat, Karjat-Khopoli and Kalyan-Mumbai CST sections have already been switched over to A.C. traction system. On balance sections of Harbour and Trans-harbour lines from Mumbai to Panvel and Thane to Turbhe, D.C. to A.C. conversion work is now completed. These sections were test charged on 25000 Volt A.C. and trial-runs of Alternating Current(A.C.) EMU/Loco were successfully carried out on the night of 12/13th March '16.

As soon as Commissioner of Railway Safety(CRS) inspections are over and CRS authorisation is received, these sections will be switched over to 25000 Volt A.C. traction system for regular services. With this conversion in Mumbai, the electrification in entire Indian Railways everywhere will be switched over to 25000 Volt A.C. traction which will lead to unique A.C. traction system over Indian Railways.

This would result in increased suburban services & induction of new rolling stock with better passenger amenities, reduction in journey time, and operating cost of the railways.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.