ROURKELA: In this fast-paced life, the Indian Railways is struggling to deliver faster journeys as the average speed of passenger trains across the country including 47 pairs running through Rourkela has not been enhanced in the last 18 years.
Amid the increasing pressure to move with the times, Railway Board Chairman VK Tripathi on Monday advised the East Coast Railway (ECoR) officials to increase the average speed of passenger trains in its jurisdiction.
Tripathi gave this instruction at a review meeting in Bhubaneswar during his visit to Odisha to take stock of various developmental activities of ECoR in connection with traffic facilities and hassle-free train operations.
A compilation of statistics of India Railways shows that the average speed of Mail/Express trains was 46.9 km per hour (kmph) while that of EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) trains and local passenger trains stood at 39.7 kmph and 36.1 kmph respectively during 2004-05.
The average speed of Mail/Express trains was 53.8 kmph and that of EMU and local passenger trains was 38.9 kmph and 35.7 kmph respectively in 2020-21 which continues till now. Meanwhile, the average speed of freight trains has nearly doubled from 24 kmph to 46.71 kmph now.
On September 18 2020, the then Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had informed the Rajya Sabha that the average speed of premier trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto or Vande Bharat was above 70 kmph.
Goyal had said that running of trains depends on various factors like type of track structure, signalling system, motive power, type of rolling stock, network congestion, etc.
Citing speed data of 2019-20, Goyal had further put the average speed of premier trains at above 70 kmph, superfast trains at above 55 kmph and Mail/Express trains at above 50 kmph. For increasing speed and punctuality of trains, the railways has initiated several measures for upgrading infrastructure, modernising rolling stocks and streamlining operations, he said.
Goyal’s predecessor Suresh Prabhu, during his 2015-16 Railway Budget speech, had cited similar infrastructure constraints and network congestions and said it was not surprising that though Rajdhani and Shatabdi are capable of doing 130 kmph, the average speed is yet to exceed.
Social activist Ved Prakash Tiwari said the focus of the Indian Railways is to earn huge revenue from freight movement, while train passengers suffer with time consuming travel. "The Narendra Modi government has brought improvement in the railway system, but much more is needed as eight years is no less time to ensure faster travel for train passengers," he added.
