(a) whether the Government has taken a decision to increase the existing speed of trains under the Indian Railways;
(b) if so, the outline of the scheme and the total number of routes on which the decision to run comparatively faster trains has been taken;
(c) whether an assessment of regularity of trains due to increase in speed has also been made;
(d) if so, the number of trains likely to run on time on regular basis; and
(e) the total estimated expenditure on the scheme?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)
(a): Yes, Madam. With a view to increasing speed of trains in Indian Railways, ‘Mission Raftaar’ was 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 kmph in the next 5 years.
(b): Action Plan for improving mobility and increasing average speed includes removal of speed restrictions, construction of road over bridges (ROBs) and road under bridges (RUBs), right powering of trains, introduction of twin-pipe in wagons, replacement of conventional trains by Main Line Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) trains and Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains. In addition, two projects for raising of speed to 160/200 kmph on existing corridors of New Delhi-Mumbai route (including Vadodara-Ahmedabad) covering 1483 route km and New Delhi-Howrah route (including Kanpur-Lucknow) covering 1525 route kms have been included in the Pink Book of 2017-18.
(c) & (d): Improvement in speed, as and when realised on a sustained basis, can improve the running time and its impact on punctual running of trains will be indirect through additional recovery time that can be provided. It is not possible to assess/quantify such effects at this stage.
(e): Most of the activities in the action plan are ongoing activities. The estimated cost of two projects viz. for raising of speed to 160/200 kmph on existing corridors of New Delhi-Mumbai route (including Vadodara-Ahmedabad) and New Delhi-Howrah route (including Kanpur-Lucknow) is ? 18,163 crore.
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