Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday inaugurated the newly electrified Dhigawara-Bandikui section of north-western railway and flagged off first train on this route in a function organised at Dhigawara station.

Speaking on this occasion, Goyal said that under the leadership of Prime Minister, Indian Railways is moving forward in a phased manner with fast pace and quality and is making great achievements with everyone's cooperation, teamwork and motivation.

The minister also said that the electrification work was done on the Kota-Mumbai line in Rajasthan 35 years ago after that no one paid attention to this area. “While working on this in the railways, a target has been set to electrify the entire percentage of railway lines across India” he added.Talking about Rajasthan, he said that till 2009-14, there was no electrification in this area which was 1433 km in the last five and a half years (till September 2020) i.e. 240 km route was electrified every year. He said that there has been a change in thinking over the years and there has been a change in the way we work.“Today, after the electrification of this line, the route from Rewari to Ajmer has been electrified and now the electrified trains from Delhi to Ajmer will start soon. After running of these trains, the diesel trains will be stopped, whichwill eliminate pollution as well as the dependence on the fuel imported from outside and trains will be operated from the electricity produced in self-reliant India,” he said.

Apart from this, he said that the average speed of trains will increase and there will be development of industries, agro-based businesses and progress of villagers and farmers. “To avoid any inconvenience to the farmers, Kisan Rail are being operated by the railways to transport their agricultural products.

The government is committed for the progress of farmers,” he added.

The electrification work is being done by the Central Organization for Railway Electrification (CORE), Prayagraj. The work of electrification of Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Madar (Ajmer) section was sanctioned by CORE and handed over to Rail Electrification project, Jaipur.

 A total of 23418 foundations, 26 switching stations, 6 traction sub stations and 7 OHE depots have been set up for electrification on Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Madar (Ajmer).