Indian Railways working on a multi pronged strategy for a high speed travel
in the country
High Speed Train between Mumbai Ahmedabad Corridor
already sanctioned and under implementation
Other high speed corridors along the diamond
quadrilaterals are under exploration
Semi-High Speed Train between Delhi – Agra called
Gatimaan Express already started
8 More semi-high speed corridors are under study
Indian Railways working on a proposal to acquire
modern EMU Train Sets for improved average speed
Field trails are underway with Spanish Talgo Train
for saving substantial travel time
Mission Raftaar launched to work towards increasing
speed of existing trains in Indian Railways
Process is on for introducing faster trains Tejas
as announced in the Railway Budget
Indian Railways is working on a multi pronged
strategy for running of high speed trains (with a speed
of 300 kmph+), semi high speed trains (with a speed of 160 kmph+ - 200kmph),
running of existing trains with increased speeds and introduction of faster
trains and faster train sets.
A high
speed train (300 kmph+) has already been sanctioned on Mumbai –
Ahmedabad high speed corridor with financial and technical assistance from
Government of Japan. This train is based on Japanese Shinkansen high speed
technology. A company for the implementation of this project with the name
“National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited” has already been formed. The
implementation of this project has already begun and is now targeted for
commissioning in 2023-24. The study for this high speed train popularly
referred to as Bullet Train has been done by JICA. Government of Japan is
providing financial assistance in the form of loan upto 81% of the project cost
at a very nominal interest rate of 0.1% per annum to be repaid in 50 years with
a 15 year moratorium.
In addition to
Mumbai – Ahmedabad high speed (300 kmph+) corridor,
five more corridors covering sides of diamond quadrilaterals and semi diagonals
in the country are being explored and Consultants have been appointed to
undertake feasibility studies as per details given below : -
S.N
|
High Speed Corridor
|
Consultants undertaking feasibility study
|
1
|
Delhi-Mumbai
|
Consortium of M/s. The Third Railway Survey and
Design Institute Group Corporation (Chinese Consultant) and Lahmeyer
International (India) Private Limited, India. Interim report 1 received.
Interim report 2 expected in November, 2016. Final Report expected in
January, 2017.
|
2
|
Mumbai-Chennai
|
Consortium of M/s. SYSTRA (French Consultants), RITES
and Ernst and Young LLP. Interim report 1 received. Interim report 2
expected in November, 2016. Final Report expected in January, 2017.
|
3
|
Delhi-Kolkata
|
Consortium of M/s. INECO- M/s. TYPSA- M/s.
Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Private Limited (Spanish
Consultants). Interim report 1 & 2 received. Final Report expected in
January, 2017.
|
4
|
Delhi-Nagpur
|
Government to Government cooperation with Chinese
Railway Company. Inception report received.
|
5
|
Mumbai-Nagpur
|
Government to Government cooperation with Spanish
Railway companies. Interim report 1 received. Interim report 2 expected in
November, 2016. Final Report expected in January, 2017.
|
Railways has also
taken up a programme of running of semi high speed trains
(160 kmph+ - 200kmph) in a big way. It has already started running such a train
with the name Gatimaan Express between Hazrat Nizammuddin to Agra Cantt Station
w.e.f. 05.04.2016 with a maximum speed of 160 kmph. In addition to this Delhi
–Agra semi high speed corridor, Indian Railways have also identified eight more
corridors for feasibility of semi high speed rail, Zone wise details are
as under:
S.N
|
Corridor
|
Zonal Railways
|
Status
|
1
|
Delhi-Chandigarh
|
Northern
|
Feasibility-cum implementation study awarded to
SNCF (France) on cost sharing basis.
|
2
|
Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysore
|
Southern, South Western
|
Feasibility Study for upgradation of speed
awarded to ERYUAN Group of Chinese Railways at their cost.
|
3
|
Delhi-Kanpur
|
Northern, North Central
|
Quantum of Technical inputs required for
upgradation of speed to 160 Kmph have been identified by the concerned Zonal
Railways and KONKAN Railway.
|
4
|
Nagpur-Bilaspur
|
South East Central
|
|
5
|
Mumbai-Goa
|
Central, South Western, Konkan Railway
|
|
6
|
Mumbai-Ahmedabad
|
Western
|
|
7
|
Chennai- Hyderabad
|
Southern, South Central
|
|
8
|
Nagpur - Secunderabad
|
Central, South Central
|
Indian Railways is
also currently undertaking field trials for assessing savings in transit time
by using special type Spanish Talgo Coaches on existing New
Delhi-Mumbai corridor. These are faster trains which may run at around 200
kmph.
Indian Railways is
also working on a proposal to acquire modern electrical EMU train sets
which will have a good average speed thereby saving travel time
substantially.
With a view
to increasing speed of existing trains in Indian
Railways, ‘Mission Raftaar’ has been announced in the
Railway Budget 2016-17. The mission envisages a target of doubling of
average speed of freight trains and increasing the average speed of all
non-suburban passenger trains by 25 kilometre per hour (kmph) in next 5
years. The present level of average speeds in Indian Railways for
non-suburban passenger trains is 46.3 kmph and for freight trains the average
speeds is 24.2 kmph. In order to implement this, a cross-functional mission
directorate has been created in Railway Board.
Action Plan for improving mobility and increasing average speed of trains,
inter-alia, includes removal of speed restrictions, construction of road
over bridges (ROBs) and road under bridges (RUBs), right powering of trains,
introduction of twin-pipe brake system in wagons, and replacement of
conventional loco hauled commuter trains by Main Line Electric Multiple Unit
(MEMU) and Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains.
Some of the important achievements in mobility improvement in Indian
Railways are;
o Two pairs of trains between Kanpur-Allahabad
section, and one pair of MEMU train between Asansol-Dhanbad section in
place of conventional loco hauled passenger trains have already been
introduced.
o Two more pairs of trains have been scheduled for
switch over to MEMU in Allahabad-Mughalsarai section in July 2016.
o Mobility study of high density
Ghaziabad-Allahabad-Mughalsarai section completed. Short term
Action Plan under implementation.
o Introduction of twin-pipe brake system in freight
trains approved in-principle for implementation in all freight stocks. This
will result in faster application and release of brake system consequent
increase in speed of freight trains.
o Action Plan for Right powering of freight trains is
being worked out. Optimum horse power to trailing load ratio will speed up
freight trains and reduce transit time, directly benefitting the customers.
o Removal of Level Crossing Gates for achieving
faster speed and improved safety for 2787 level crossing gates targeted for
removal in 2016-17.
Besides above mentioned measures, Ministry has also announced introduction
of faster train services like TEJAS which requires
minimal technological inputs and aims at attaining speeds above 130 kmph.
