History of electric traction in India.
A railfan like me who has very limited knowledge on IR hugely depend on internet. Would like to share this with my IRFCA family.
Electric traction was introduced on Indian Railways in year 1925 on 1.5 KV DC and the first electric train ran between Bombay's Victoria Terminus and Kurla along the Harbour Line of CR, on February 3, 1925, a distance of 9.5 miles, flagged off the then Governor of Bombay Sir Leslie Orme Wilson.
In...
more... the year 1957, Indian Railways decided to adopt 25 kV 50 Hz AC traction based on French Railway (SNCF) technology.
The first 25kV AC electrified section was Burdwan-Mughalsarai, completed in 1957, followed by the Tatanagar-Rourkela section on the Howrah-Bombay route. The first actual train run (apart from trial runs) using 25kV AC was on Dec. 15, 1959 on the Kendposi-Rajkharswan section (SER). Howrah-Gaya was electrified by about 1960 , electrification till Kanpur on the Howrah-Delhi route was done by about 1972, and the entire Howrah-Delhi route was electrified on Aug. 5, 1976. The Bombay-Delhi (WR) route was electrified by Feb. 1, 1988. The CR route was fully electrified by June 1990.
Considering the advantages of 2 x 25kV AC system , it was commissioned between Bina and Katni (CR) on Jan. 16, 1995 as a pilot project. This was later extended to Bishrampur. Though this system was not proliferated further earlier, it is being planned for use on Dedicated Freight Corridors to take up heavier traffic.
click hereBesides electrification some information are there regarding introduction of Poorva Exp and introduction of 2A and 3A. I am highlighting those points given below in italics.
The first fully air-conditioned train was introduced in 1956 between Howrah and Delhi. Popularly known as the AC Express, it ran on the Grand Chord; later there were two, one running on the Grand Chord and the other on the Main Line. Another train popularly known as the AC Express was the Dakshin Exp. between Madras and New Delhi in the 1960s.
AC Chair Car stock was introduced around 1955. Until about 1979, air-conditioning was available only in these and in AC First Class cars. Around 1979 the first two-tier AC coaches were introduced. The first 3-tier AC coaches were introduced in 1993 (RCF) and used on the Howrah Rajdhani via Patna. (The first such coach was ER 2301A, later changed to ER 94101A.) The first 60 or so of the three-tier AC coaches had 67 berths each, while all later ones have 64 berths.
