NEW DELHI: The Railways is developing the 1,500 km-long Delhi- Mumbai and 1,400 km-long Delhi-Howrah rail corridors at an estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crore, on which trains can run at a speed of 160 km per hour in the next three years. This will be an increase from the current speed level of 130 km.
The initiative, which will cut down on travel time to these destinations, comes after the successful launch of Gatimaan Express, recently introduced between Delhi and Agra, operating at a speed of 160 km per hour. Currently, Mail and Express trains, including Rajdhani and Shatabdi, can speed up to 130 km on these two busy routes. A senior Railway official said they are working on strengthening the tracks on the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata route.
“Upgrading of signalling system and fencing of vulnerable sections along the route will be undertaken to ensure 160 km per hour speed on these two busy corridors. We have firmed up an action plan to increase the speed to up to 160 km per hour on the total 9,000-km main trunk routes across the country as part of Mission Raftaar project,” said a senior Railway Ministry official associated with the project. While the Delhi-Howrah route is used by about 120 passenger trains and around 100 goods trains everyday, some 90 passenger services and an equal number of freight trains run on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor daily. “Once these two major routes are upgraded to 160 km per hour speed, there will be scope for launching more passenger trains,” the official added.
All railway zones involved with the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata corridors have been asked to undertake the work on a mission mode so that trains can move at a speed of 160 km per hour in three years, the official added. The 1,400 km-long Delhi-Howrah and 1,500 km-long Delhi-Mumbai corridors are among the two major busy routes of the Golden Quadrilateral. Other routes are Howrah-Chennai, Delhi-Chennai and Chennai-Mumbai.