Kalka-Shimla section: Electrification ruled out; H-powered or battery-run engines only options

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, August 2

Hydrogen-powered trains or batteries seem to be the only options left for the Northern Railway on the world heritage Kalka-Shimla section to replace diesel-powered locomotives. An agency, given the task to assess the impact of proposed electrification, has not recommended it. The Kalka Shimla Railway section is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

“The electrification is not feasible on the Kalka-Shimla section. The major issues are increase in speed and reduction in pollution. While electrification may reduce pollution marginally, the speed will not increase. The construction work for electrification, use of concrete, cutting of trees and other activities will have adverse impact. Since it is a world heritage, electric wires will compromise the visual integrity. Some tunnels were very small and it was not feasible to wire them. The Railways is suggested to explore other alternatives like hydrogen and EV,” said Divay Gupta, CEO of Stambh, the agency that assessed the impact.

A senior railway official said, “Electrification in this section is not going to be an easy task. There are 102 tunnels in this section and it is a tough task to do the overhead electrification (OHE) in the tunnels. Besides this, a specially designed locomotive that can run on electricity will be required for the narrow-gauge. There is a worldwide standard design of loco for the broad-gauge, but there is no such design for the narrow-gauge. Moreover, when The Railways has already decided to run the hydrogen trains on this section, the issue of pollution will automatically be resolved.”

On the Kalka Shimla Railway line, three railway stations Kalka, Shimla, and Barog were identified for setting up hydrogen stations for the generation of hydrogen fuel and fueling the fuel cell-based trains.

Senior DCM Ambala Division Naveen Kumar said, “At present, there is no plan for the electrification of the Kalka Shimla section. After the identification of the three sites for hydrogen-fuel generation, the matter has been sent to the headquarters, and the Railway Board will take further decision. The existing average speed of the trains is 25 km. The issue of speed is due to the conditions and curves. New advanced coaches for narrow-gauge are being manufactured by Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala and trials have been conducted.”

Electrification should be avoided

The agency roped in for the impact assessment has suggested that electrification should be avoided in the section to ensure that the heritage is not damaged. We have accepted the report and it has been forwarded to the Railway Board. If the board also accepts the report, then the proposed electrification will be dropped. — Mandeep Singh Bhatia, divisional railway manager, Ambala division