Faster train travel! Indian Railways officials have said that over one-fifth of India’s railway tracks now support train speeds up to 130 kmph, achieved through enhanced safety measures including fencing and modern signalling systems.
“Around 23,000 track kilometres (TKM) of the total 1.03 lakh TKM of Indian Railways’ network is now fit to run trains at a speed of 130 km/h,” a senior official told ET, noting improved connectivity through reduced journey times. TKM represents the track length between two points.
Indian Railways officials also confirmed that 54,337 TKM of tracks can accommodate speeds up to 110 kmph. “The speed of 2,741 TKM network has already been raised to 110 km/h, against a target of 5,000 TKM, during the current fiscal,” the official said.
Indian Railways has been looking to enhance track and signalling infrastructure to support higher train speeds on the network. Some major stretches on the Golden Quadrilateral are also being upgraded to allow for semi-high speed trains with maximum speeds of up to 160 kmph.
Also Read | Indian Railways plans centrally heated sleeper train, special Vande Bharat chair car for Kashmir – check features
Vande Bharat Express, the new flagship passenger train of Indian Railways, can run at speeds of 160 kmph.
Meanwhile, Indian Railways showed improved performance with a 4% rise in earnings and 2% higher capital expenditure during April to December of the current fiscal year compared to the previous year.
Official data indicates capital expenditure reached Rs 1.92 lakh crore, whilst freight operations generated Rs 1.26 lakh crore in revenue during this period.
The passenger segment earnings increased by 6%, reaching Rs 55,988 crore.
“Total revenue of Indian Railways stood at Rs 1.93 lakh crore in the first nine months of the current fiscal. This is Rs 7,674 crore higher than the topline last year,” a senior official told the financial daily.
Also Read | Vande Bharat sleeper a step closer to launch! New Indian Railways train leaves ICF Chennai for RDSO field trials
The increased revenue primarily came from enhanced freight loading, which saw a 2% rise to 1,179 million tonnes.
Train services, including mail, express, passenger and others, increased by 3%, achieving over 2.07 million runs. “This is an all-time-high record. Last year, we ran 2.02 million train services during the same period,” the official said.
Special train services during peak demand periods increased by 54% to 57,169 compared to the previous year. The railway authority has introduced a new timetable incorporating 62 special trains on popular routes.
The new schedule also includes 74 additional services, with 34 pairs of Vande Bharat trains.
