March 2021: When the Mumbai-Chennai Railway Route Will Be Fully Doubled, Electrified

The Mumbai- Chennai rail line is finally going to get a fully electrified double line come March 2021.

This follows the likely completion of doubling of the remaining 72 –km stretch of single line between Daund and Kalaburagi by coming March.

Once the project is completed, all segments of the Golden Quadrilateral and its diagonals will be fully doubled and electrified.

The line serves key urban areas like Pune and Solapur, and has major junctions like Daund, Kurduwadi and Hotgi connecting several parts of the country. The Mumbai-Chennai line also serves several major industries such as thermal power plants, cement, sugar, oil, food grain, fertilizer and iron ore.

Reduced travel times with doubling and electrification

Central Railway in February 2020, had announced an increase in the speed of trains between Mumbai and Chennai effective July 2020. This modification was likely done anticipating the completion of doubling and electrification between Daund and Kalaburagi.

However, the new timetable could not be implemented due to the suspension of regular train services thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Status of pending work on the Mumbai-Chennai line

Works are going on between Bhigvan and Bhalwani. Bhalwani – Washimbe is being targetted for completion by October and then the remaining Washimbe Bhigwan section (Daund –Solapur doubling).

The single line stretch between Kulali and Sawalgi (Hotgi-Kalaburagi section) is being targeted for October according to Anil Kumar Patel Chief Project Manager, of railway PSU Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).

Current status of doubling and electrification between Mumbai and Chennai section-wise

Zone	Section	Doubling Status	Electrification status
CR	CSMT-Pune	Doubled	Electrified
CR	Pune-Daund	Doubled	Electrified
CR	Daund-Bhigvan	Doubled	Electrified
CR	Bhigvan-Mohol	Single between Bhigvan and Bhalwani and Doubled between Bhalwani and Mohol	Work in progress
CR	Mohol-Pakni	Doubled	Work in progress
CR	Pakni- Solapur	Doubled	Work in progress
CR	Solapur-Hotgi	Doubled	Work in progress
CR	Hotgi-Kalaburagi	Single between Kulali and Savalgi rest doubled	Work in progress
CR	Kalaburagi-Shahabad	Doubled	Electrified
CR	Shahabad-Wadi	Doubled	Electrified
SCR	Wadi – Guntakal	Doubled	Electrified
SCR	Guntakal -Renigunta	Doubled	Electrified
SR	Renigunta-Chennai	Doubled	Electrified

Target completion dates for doubling and electrification of the remaining sections of the Mumbai-Chennai railway line

Zone	Section	Doubling Target Date	Electrification Target Date of Completion
CR	Bhigvan-Washimbe	Feb-21	Loco trials done. Commissioning by Sep-2020
CR	Washimbe- Bhalwani	Oct-20	November 2020 of single/double line
CR	Bhalwani-Kurduwadi	Doubled	Nov-20
CR	Kurduwadi-Solapur	Doubled	Feb-21
CR	Solapur-Dudhani	Doubled	Feb-21
CR	Dudhani-Kulali	Doubled	Nov-20
CR	Kulali-Savalgi	Oct-20	Nov-20
CR	Savalgi-Kalaburagi	Doubled	Loco trials done. Commissioning by Sep-2020

All single lines will be automatically electrified on being doubled.

On the doubling of bridges Anil Kumar Patel, said “the existing bridge substructure is designed for placing double line girder. However, it was designed for the old loading standard and needed strengthening for the new 25-ton loading standard. Hence, we are doing strengthening by jacketing.”

The Bhima river bridge is at KM 268.4. The Ujani dam reservoir backwaters cross the alignment at three locations; KM 302.4, KM 317.3 and KM 326.4.

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Daund –Kalaburagi doubling project details (Tables 1 and 2)

The doubling is being done as follows:  From Bhigvan at Km 294.86 up to Km 330.00 (between Washimbe and Pophalaj), the alignment is on the left hand side of the existing alignment. From there on until Mohol (km 421.6), the double line alignment is on the right hand side of the existing line.

The section between Mohol and Hotgi (km 470.04) is already doubled.

From Hotgi onwards, until Bablad (Km 562.53), the new alignment stays on the right hand side. However it switches back to the left hand side for the last five kilometers between Bablad and Kalaburagi.

The project did not involve additional land acquisition.The doubled BG line will have a ruling gradient of 1:105 in block sections.

The existing curves remain except at approaches to major bridges. Of the major bridges along the alignment, six are girder bridges and the remaining are arch bridges.

There are 17 block sections prone to soil erosion- Of this five sections are due to hard rock cutting, another five due to soil cutting and the remaining seven due to unconsolidated soil material.

Project Delays and Cost Overruns

This Mumbai-Chennai line upgrade to a fully electrified double line has overshot its original schedule by 12 months. Costs have also gone up significantly by 222.36 percent, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

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Sanctioned cost of the project was Rs 713.48 crore. However, the anticipated cost now is Rs 2300 crore with Rs 2131.56 crore already spent.

Revised target date of completion was March 2020. However, the Covid-19 pandemic saw projects being abandoned due to lockdown with ensuing migration of labour resulting in a shortage of men and material. Hence the target date for completion was postponed by one year.

The project consisted of doubling works between Daund and Kalaburagi (224.9 km) and route electrification between Pune and Guntakal (641.37 km).

“Had things gone as per the original plan, this project should have been completed by December 2015,” said a senior railway official requesting anonymity.

Stations shifted during the project

Stations at locations on undulating topography have been shifted to accommodate the doubled line plus the loop lines – for instance the Pophalaj railway station (Km 333.56) building has been shifted 250 metres towards the Daund side of the existing railway station.

Other examples where the stations have been shifted include Tilati (km 479.56), Hunsi Hadgil (km 548.58) and Bablad (km 562.47).

Crossing of trains on single line at these four stations was done by the use of a scissors crossing – a method used at locations with undulating land.

Daund-Kalaburagi existing single line alignment

The existing single line broad gauge section had a ruling gradient of 1:100 with a maximum degree of curvature at 3.5 degree. It had 122 curves, 26 major and 583 minor bridges besides 54 level crossing gates.

Terrain

The Daund-Kalaburagi topography is mountainous in nature. It is covered by Deccan trap basaltic lava flows consisting of undulating terrain formed due to differential weathering.

 The elevation above mean sea level along the alignment varies between 468.2 m (Ganagapur) to 599.0 m (Kem) with the average elevation at 531.6m.

The alignment lies in seismic zones – II, & III, a moderately risky zone with deep black cotton soil.

Between Daund and Kalaburagi, the Deccan trap is between Bhigwan to Jinti Road. Then comes the Bhima valley between Kem and Hotgi followed by the Akkalkot plains and the Bori river valley.

Mumbai-Chennai Line Upgrade Chronology in South Central Railway Territory

Doubling and electrification work between Renigunta and Wadi on South Central Railway was sanctioned in July 1996.

“The first section to be doubled was between Guntakal and Gooty in the 1990s,” said Hyderabad based rail enthusiast Aditya S Nivarthi.

However, doubling between Gooty and Renigunta was completed only in 2011 while the doubling towards Wadi took longer and was completed only in 2015,” he added.

“Electrification of The 310-km stretch between Renigunta and Guntakal was commissioned on December 5, 2013. However, it took more than three years to electrify the 229 km Guntakal-Wadi section,” Aditya summed up.