Trial run of electric trains on Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road ghat section in June first week

A squad from the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) of the Railway Ministry volition behaviour trials connected the newly-electrified Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road ghat stretch of Hassan-Mangaluru conception successful June archetypal week, earlier the agelong is declared acceptable to run trains hauled by electrical locomotives.

Successful completion of the trials, followed by a proposal by the RDSO to Railway Ministry to licence cognition of electric-loco-hauled trains connected the conception would pave the mode for operating the much-expected Vande Bharat Express betwixt Bengaluru and Mangaluru, and different parts of coastal Karnataka.

During his sojourn to Mangaluru connected May 23, Minister of State for Railways V. Somanna had announced that the VB Express would beryllium introduced successful June.

RITES (formerly Rail India Technical and Economic Service) Limited had bagged the declaration of executing railway electrification of astir 400 km railway enactment successful South Western Railway, including the 300 km Mysuru-Hassan-Mangaluru section, its subdivision enactment Hassan-Arsikere (47 km), and Kadur-Chikkamagaluru (45 km), successful August 2021 astatine an estimated outgo of ₹461.23crore. SWR’s Mysuru part announced completion of the last agelong of electrification connected the Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road ghat conception connected December 28, 2025. The Railway Ministry revised the estimates to ₹729.28 crore successful March 2026.

Trial begins connected June 1

Divisional Railway Manager of SWR’s Mysuru part Mudit Mittal told The Hindu that the RDSO squad is expected to commence the trials connected June 1, arsenic a precursor to recommending to the Ministry to authorise cognition of electric-loco-hauled trains connected the section.

The squad would behaviour trials utilizing antithetic kinds of bid sets, including rider and freight, with varied loads. “We person kept acceptable a fewer rakes of antithetic categories to beryllium utilized for behaviour of the trials,” the DRM said. The full process mightiness instrumentality astir a week aft which RDSO would taxable its study to the Ministry, Mr. Mittal said.

The part had initially conducted trials with an electrical loco, and subsequently with an emptry rider bid rake.

Ghat conception is technically challenging

The 55-km ghat conception is 1 of the astir technically challenging sections of Indian Railways, having a steep 1-in-50 gradient (the way rises by 1 metre for each 50 metres of region covered). It includes 57 tunnels, 258 bridges, and 108 crisp curves, and is highly prone to landslides, making execution of electrification enactment exceptionally complex.

Electrification enactment connected the ghat conception commenced connected December 1, 2023, and was completed connected December 28, 2025, astatine a outgo of ₹93.55 crore. It includes 5 switching stations. The overhead instrumentality was designed for a maximum velocity of 120 kmph.