By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : The East Coast Railway has electrified a stretch of railway track in Orissa at a height of 7.5 metres to run double-stack container (DSC) goods trains, an official said Thursday.
DSC goods trains, which can carry a payload of 2,500 tonnes against the 1,500 tonnes that can be ferried in a single stack train, are used in very few countries. This will also be India’s first DSC operation.
The track was electrified in the Jakhapura-Daitari section of the East Coast Railway in Orissa in two months, and the trial was conducted this month, the official told IANS.
East Coast claims it is for the first time that a railway track was electrified at a height of 7.45 metres anywhere in the world.
DSC movement is in vogue mainly in China and the US. The contact wire height in China is 6.6 metres and 7.1 metres in the US.
Consultant to the project, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), will evaluate the test reports.
The railways ministry will use the JICA report for electrification of the western corridor to run DSC trains, the official added.