NEW DELHI, Nov 16: The Indian Railways plan to launch new trains every day to add more than 2,000 trains in the existing railway network.
Official sources said on Thursday that every rail passenger would be able to get confirmed tickets by 2027 adding that new trains would be added every day in the big Railways’ expansion plans. This comes in the wake of heavy rail traffic witnessed preceding the “Chhath Puja” last week with pictures of overcrowded platforms and trains flooded social media during the mega Diwali week. A 40-year-old man died while trying to board a Bihar-bound train for Chhath.
Asked how the Railways plans to achieve this big transformation, sources said new tracks would be laid out every year – a network of 4,000-5,000 kilometre track per year will be laid out. Currently, 10,748 trains are running daily, the target is to increase it to 13,000 trains every day. The plan is to put 3,000 new trains on tracks in the next 3-4 years, the sources added.
Some 800 crore passengers travel by train every year, the plan is to raise the passenger capacity to 1,000 crore. The Railways is also working to cut down the travel time – which includes laying down more tracks, increase the speed and to increase the speed, it is necessary to increase the acceleration and deceleration so that the train takes less time to stop and gain speed.
According to a study by the Railways, two hour and twenty minutes can be saved in traveling from Delhi to Kolkata if they increase acceleration and deceleration. The push and pull technique will help in increasing acceleration and deceleration. At present, about 225 trains are being manufactured annually in which push pull technology is being used.
The acceleration and deceleration capacity of Vande Bharat, the flagship trains, is four times more than the current trains.
(Manas Dasgupta)