What is in news : South Western Railway (SWR) will run MEMU trains on suburban routes, including the popular Bengaluru-Tumakuru and KSR Bengaluru-Devenahalli lines.

Details :

• SWR has completed electrification work till Hirehalli on the 56-km Yeshwantpur–Tumakuru line. The remaining 11 km will be completed by the end of June.
• SWR aims to complete electrification of eight lines totalling 318 km by 2022. The only exception is the Chikkabanavara-Hassan line, which is expected to be electrified by March 2023.
• SWR proposes to run 60 trains on electric traction by March 2022, which is expected to save ₹9.05 crore every month.

MEMU TRAINS

· On Indian Railways, the MEMUs are electric multiple unit (EMU) trains that serve short and medium-distance routes in India, as compared to normal EMU trains that connect urban and suburban areas. The acronym stands for “Mainline Electric Multiple Unit”

· In the 1990s Indian Railways’ built MEMUs that had 10 ft 8 in (3,250 mm) wide coaches

· The service started on Asansol – Adra section on 15 July 1995 and on Kharagpur – Tata section on 22 July 1995.

· The first 20 coach MEMU ran between Surat to Virar in 2017. In 2018, Integral Coach Factory (ICF) launched new MEMU capable to operate at 110–130 km/h (68–81 mph)

· IR is progressively replacing all locomotive-hauled slow and fast passenger and intercity trains with EMUs. The upgraded trains are re-branded as MEMUs