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In the wake of the industrial development, in the Eastern region, with the setting up of steel plants necessitating large scale movement of Iron and Coal, substantial growth in freight traffic was observed and this could not be managed by steam traction. Electrification and diesalisation had to be introduced in early sixties to cope with the traffic. Indian Railways completed electrification of 216 RKM (route kilometer) on 25 kV AC traction during 2nd Five Year Plan. During the 3rd Plan, alongwith considerable indigenisation, electrification was extended over another 1678 RKM. The pace of electrification, however, slowed down until the oil crisis of seventies. The second oil crisis in particular brought to the fore the need for evolving a long term policy for electrification to reduce the dependence of Railways on petroleum based energy.
Under the directions of the PMO, in the context of shift from petroleum based energy in transport sector, the Secretaries Committee on energy headed by Cabinet Secretary decided in July 1980 that the Railways should speed up track electrification. Accordingly, the pace of electrification was considerably speeded up and Indian Railways achieved a record progress of 2812 RKM during the seventh Plan, 2708 RKM during Eighth Plan, 2484 RKM during Ninth Plan, 1810 RKM during Tenth Plan and 4556 RKM
The pace of electrification of the entire railway network across the country has significantly accelerated since 2014. Driven by the ambitious government goal of 100% electrification of all Broad Gauge (BG) routes, the Centre orgenisation for Railway Electrification (CORE) has been working diligently through its nine project units in Ahmedabad, Ambala, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Lucknow, New Jalpaiguri, and Secunderabad to harness the benefits of electrification for Indian Railways.
As a result, Indian Railways has achieved remarkable success in BG electrification in recent years, electrifying 68,952 route kilometers by June 1, 2025, translating to 99% of the total BG network. This includes an impressive 41,655 route kilometers electrified in the last 10 years, constituting 66% of the overall electrification work.
With rapid electrification on Indian Railways in the 46 years since its inception, CORE has played a pivotal role in this endeavor, achieving the electrification of 48,029 route kilometers, representing 70% of the total electrification work. In the past 10 years, CORE has demonstrated unprecedented speed and significantly contributed to the development of Indian Railways by electrifying 26,441 route kilometers, including a historic record of 4,770 route kilometers in the year 2022-23.
Currently, CORE has successfully met all electrification targets set by the Ministry of Railways, Government of India.
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