CHENNAI: With the Southern Railway increasing the speed limit of trains from 110 kmph to 130 kmph in the Chennai-Guntur section, the travel time of trains heading to Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, West Bengal and other States from Chennai Central is set to reduce by 20 minutes.
The 134-km-track between Chennai Central and Gudur is the first section in the SR to get approval for running trains at 130 kmph.
Trains take 105 to 160 minutes to travel from Chennai Central to Gudur. Those include Chennai - New Delhi Rajdhani Express (105 minutes), Chennai - Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express (128 minutes), Chennai - Ahmedabad Navjeevan Express (123 minutes) and Puducherry - New Delhi weekly express (160 minutes).
A railway official said the reduction in travel time will be notified once the new timetable comes into force. Around 11 daily trains that originate from Chennai Central, Egmore and Tambaram and are operated via Perambur use the Chennai Central-Guntur line. In addition to these, 33 tri/bi/weekly express trains also use the track.
The speed limit at Chennai - Gudur section was accorded approval by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle in Bengaluru on Wednesday after a speed trial and inspection. After this, Southern Railway General Manager BG Mallaya conducted a high-speed trial run at a top speed of 143 kmph on Thursday. During the speed trial, the train covered the 134 km stretch of the Chennai - Gudur section in 84 minutes clocking a top speed 143 kmph.
In 2017-18, the Railways decided to enhance the speed of the trains in golden quadrilateral tracks connecting Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata and its diagonal routes to 130 kmph. The proposal, which remained a non-starter for a few years, is understood to have gained momentum after the railways chose to run high-speed trains in collaboration with private players.