1500 V DC Railway electrification in India began with the first electric train (1500 V DC), between
Bombay Victoria Terminus and
Kurla on the
Great Indian Peninsula Railway's (GIPR) Harbour Line, on 3 February 1925.
3000 V DC The electrification of the
Howrah-
Burdwan section of the
Eastern Railway zone at 3000 V DC was completed in 1958. The first 3000 V DC
EMU service began on the
Howrah-
Sheoraphuli section on 14 December 1957.
25 kV AC 25 kV AC railway electrification emerged as an economical form of electrification as a result of research and trials in Europe, particularly on
French Railways (
SNCF). Indian Railways decided to adopt the 25 kV AC system of electrification as a standard in 1957, with SNCF as their consultant in the early stages, It arranged the supply contracts for the WAM-1, WAG-1 and WAG-3 locomotives and their spare parts. The first section electrified with the 25 kV AC system was Burdwan–Mughalsarai in 1957, followed by Tatanagar–Rourkela. Both of these sections were used for tests. The first section electrified for operational use was Raj Kharswan–Dongoaposi, on the
South Eastern Railway zone, selected due to heavy freight traffic. The first 25 kV AC
EMUs, for
Kolkata suburban service in Sealdah division, was introduced in 1963-4.
Organisation The electrification office was established in
Kolkata as the Project Office for Railway Electrification (PORE) in 1951 when electrification of the Howrah–Burdwan section of the Eastern Railway began. A general manager headed the Railway Electrification Organisation, established in Kolkata in 1959. In 1961, the
Northern Railway zone electrification office (headed by an engineer-in-chief) was established in Allahabad for the electrification of the
Mughalsarai–
New Delhi section. Following the 1978 J. Raj Committee report, several electrification projects were included and a railway-electrification headquarters was established. Since most of the electrification projects at the time were in Central India and South India, the electrification headquarters was established in
Nagpur under an additional general manager from 1982 to 1984. The headquarters was moved to Allahabad under the additional general manager in January 1985 and was renamed Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE). A general manager was appointed in July 1987. In 2018, India's government set a target of achieving 100% electrification, with budget allocated for the task, and an initial target for completion in fiscal year 2021-2. The next year, IR set up a plan to achieve this goal in five fiscal years, with an aim to complete the project by December 2023. In December 2023, the target date was revised to the end of the 2023-4 fiscal year ==Status==