Work to increase speed to 130 km on Chennai-Gudur section has been completed.
In response to the Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted by the Southern Railway to increase the train speed to 160 km on the Chennai-Bengaluru route in the coming years, the Railway Board has given in-principle approval to go ahead with the upgradation of the line. The Chennai-Bengaluru section was chosen because of the important rail services including Vande Bharat and Shatabdi operating on the route.
According to a press release issued by Southern Railway, work on increasing the speed to 130 km on the Chennai-Gudur section has been completed and the tracks have been cleared to run at that speed. With the completion of the work on the Chennai-Gudur section, which falls under Group A, the work to increase the speed on the Group B lines would begin in the coming months. On the Chennai-Renigunta section, the work to increase the speed from 110 km to 130 km has already been completed.
Southern Railway has started work on other routes which include Arakkonam-Jolarpettai, Jolarpettai-Podanur and Chennai-Dindigul. The speed increase on the Arakkonam-Jolarpettai line, on which Vande Bharat trains run, has been fast-tracked and is expected to be completed by March next year, the release added.
The work includes replacing track where necessary, strengthening bridges, providing automatic signaling, replacing overhead electrical infrastructure and barricading or building walls to prevent disruption.