Long-distance trains in India, irrespective of destination, have one thing in common — they are almost always late. In an effort to solve this chronic problem, Indian Railways has decided to increase the speed of nearly 500 trains.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

This move will have two advantages — while the obvious one is a reduction in the time taken to get to the destination, the other is an increase in the time Indian Railways has for maintenance.

Recently, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had asked ministry officials to work on an innovative timetable, which should be applicable from November.

As per the new Indian Railways plan, around 50 trains will run according to a revised timetable. The running time will reduce by one to three hours for a total of 500 trains. The internal audit has already begun for the 50 mail and express trains to be converted into super-fast services. The minister said that it is an effort by Indian Railways to increase the average speed of existing trains.

A Railways official said that their goal is to maximise the use of existing trains as much as possible. For example, if a train is waiting to return to its original destination, it should be put to some use.

It is also planned that trains will not stop at stations with few platforms, thus helping reduce travel time. In this plan, long-distance trains such as the one travelling between Bhopal and Jodhpur covering nearly 992 km are also included.

Halt times at platforms will also be reduced. Infrastructural improvement, automatic indicators, and new trains travelling at a speed of 130 km/h are a few goals to be achieved.

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