New Delhi, Oct 20: In an attempt to overhaul the train running system, the Indian Railways in planning to reduce time taken by 500 trains to complete their journey. The Railways will be releasing a new timetable of trains soon.
A senior Railway official said that timings of over 500 long-distance trains would be improved. Running time of trains is set to be reduced by 15 minutes to two hours once the railways introduced “innovative timetabling” on the directions of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. (Also Read: On Its First Trip, ‘Faster’ Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani Reaches Late by 47 Minutes)
“Our plan is to maximise the use of the existing rolling stock. It can be done in two ways – if we have a train that is waiting somewhere to return, we can use it during the lie over period,” a senior Railway official told PTI.
“In the new timetable around 50 such trains which will be run like this. Fifty-one trains will immediately see reduced run time from one to three hours. This will go up to more than 500 trains,” the official added.
Trains such as the Bhopal-Jodhpur Express will reach 95 minutes early while the Guwahati-Indore Special will complete its 2,330-km journey 115 minutes early and the 1929-km journey of the Ghazipur-Bandra Terminus Express will be completed 95 minutes earlier. (Also Read: Provide Oxygen Cylinders, Medical Assistance to Ailing Passengers on Trains: SC to Railways)
Railways is planning to reduce halt timings of trains. Also, stoppage of trains at stations where low footfall has been recorded will also be done away with.
Soon after taking charge as Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal had made it clear that improving the infrastructure and passenghers’ safety is on top of his agenda. Goyal had laid out an extensive plan to “transform” Indian Railways, which has been grappling with issues since ages.
The Indian Railways has been battling hard to reduce the number of train accidents and improve the timetable. Piyush Goyal has promised to change it all, however, he has a tough job in his hands
The fact that there have been eight ministers in Rail Bhawan over the last eight years. This tells how difficult it is to hold down the job here. While some quit following devastating accidents, others saw their names getting mired in corruption cases.
Goyal not only has to deliver many of PM Modi’s dream projects like electrification, high speed trains and green corridors, while at the same time reduce, if not eliminate accidents substantially. He also has to find a way to do all this without any substantial rise in prices and at the same time boost railway revenues.
