The Indian Railways is conducting railway electrification in the Konkan Railway, one of India's biggest stretches for railway electrification. Suneet Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Railways told the media that it will help all-electric passenger trains to be operational by December 2021. The conversion of this stretch will significantly reduce the railways' diesel consumption. According to Sharma, the Konkan Railway is one of the longest stretches to be electrified in a single railway network. The electrification is being conducted in two phases. One runs from Roha to Karmali in Goa, and the other runs from Roha to Karmali in Goa. Around 370 km of the 750 km stretch has been electrified so far. About 85 to 90% of the work on the pending portion has already been completed. By the end of the year, the remaining portion will be completed. This will be one of the country's longest stretches of the independent railway network to go electric, ensuring that electric locomotives can travel without interruption. The railway line between Roha in Maharashtra and Thokur in Karnataka is managed by the Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL). According to the media, the challenges of electrifying the Konkan Railway network, which cost Rs 1,100 crore, were particularly difficult due to the region's extremely difficult terrain, which necessitated special arrangements at many locations to keep it running during the monsoon season. It has about 91 tunnels and 1,880 bridges with the longest tunnel of 6.5 km at Karbude near Ratnagiri, and the tallest 64-metre bridge over Panval river at Ratnagiri. Electrification of railway lines will reduce energy costs as well as local pollution, and diesel locomotives will be phased out. It will save money on fuel and make operations easier, resulting in annual savings of Rs 150 million. Sharma said railway electrification works were commissioned on 6,015 route km in 2020-21 (until March 31), up from 4,378 route km in 2019-20, the highest ever commissioning in a year. Image SourceAlso read: India Railways records highest electrification of sections in 2020-21 Also read: Mumbai Metro: MMRDA completes overhead electrification work