Indian Railways Speeds Up 261 Trains Under ‘Mission Raftaar’, Travel Time To Reduce By 2 Hours

The Indian Railways has sped up 261 trains by up to 110 minutes over different zones, as part of its ‘Mission Raftaar’ which is aimed at providing faster rail travel to? passengers, reports Economic Times.

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'Mission Raftaar’ had been announced in the Railway Budget of 2016-17, and it envisages a target of doubling the average speed of freight trains, and increasing the average speed of all non-suburban passenger trains by 25 km/h over a course of five years.

"Forty-nine new trains, which have already been introduced, have been added in the new time table. These are one Vande Bharat Express train, 34 Humsafar Express trains, 11 Antyodaya Express trains, two Tejas Express trains and one Uday Express train," the official said. The Indian Railways has also maximised the use of rolling stock.?

"A review of the lie-over periods of rakes at different destinations revealed that rakes of some of the trains were idling at the terminals."

"Some of these have now been utilized for providing 40 new services, extension of 21 services and increase the frequency of 8 services. All these have been incorporated in the new time table," the official said.

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The railways also said that it has replaced 141 short distance passenger trains, especially having reversal enroute, by Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMUs) and Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMUs) in 2018-2019, thereby increasing the overall mobility of the system.

The movement of 27 pairs of trains has been rationalized through adjacent/satellite terminals to obviate the need for reversal of locomotives. To improve the travel experience, a total of 411 pairs of important long distance trains are now running with LHB coaches, thus improving the passenger experience.

The first Mission Raftar initiative was taken back in 2016, with the launch of Nizamuddin-Agra Gatiman Express, the first semi-high speed train to run at a maximum speed of 160 km per hour.?

According to Agra Divisional Railway Manager Prabhash Kumar, in 2016 the track was strengthened to enable the Gatiman to run at a speed of 160 km per hour. In some stretches, the train has picked up a speed of up to 160 km per hour, while on an average the train runs at about 115 km per hour.

Last year, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal was quoted as saying, "'Mission Raftaar' aims at doubling the average speed of freight trains and increasing the average speed of coaching trains by 25 kmph over a five-year period."

The average speed of freight trains is 24 km/h and that of passenger trains, excluding suburban trains, is 44 km/h.

Increasing the average speed of trains is considered essential for reducing travel time for passengers, transit time for cargo, operational cost, and improving revenues and the Railways' market share.

Inputs: PTI