Indian Railways is set to cut the travel time between New Delhi and Kolkata by at least two and half hours by scaling the speed of trains to up to 160 kmph. Presently, the shortest travel time on the 1525-km route is of the Rajdhani Express, which takes 17.5 hours to complete the journey via Gaya in Bihar. With increased speed, the train will be able to complete the same journey in less than 15 hours.
The plan to reduce the travel time between the two stations will be part of Indian Railways’ ambitious project, Mission Raftar, which aims to travel time along busy stretches by running passenger trains at a speed of 160 kmph, reported Hindustan Times.
Previously the highest approved speed of the route was 130 kmph. The work for increasing the sectional speed to 160 kmph along New Delhi-Howrah (including Kanpur-Lucknow) has already been sanctioned.
“Passengers travelling along the New Delhi and Howrah route will be able to reach their destination at least two and a half hours to three hours earlier as the speed of the train will be increased from the current 85 kmph to a maximum of 160 kmph,” a railways official told HT.
Indian Railways will improve the tracks’ readiness for higher speed by fencing, overhead equipment modification and automatic train protection on the route.
The overhead equipment will use the latest technology used by countries like France, Germany, South Africa and China.
A similar plan to cut the travel time is already being carried out on the 1,483-km long New Delhi-Mumbai route. The railway expects to reduce the travel time between Mumbai and Delhi by at least an hour after the completion of the project.
The plan to ramp up the speed of trains under Mission Raftaar on the Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Howrah route was introduced with a deadline of September 2023. However, Indian Railways seemed hopeful of completing the task before the deadline.
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