Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani travel time reduced! Here's what passengers need to know
Train number 12951/52 Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani Express which comes under the Western Railway division will be pulled by two locomotives – one at each end of the train which will enhance the speed.
Key Highlights
- With one locomotive, the Rajdhani covers the 1,384 km between Delhi and Mumbai in 15 hours 50 minutes at a speed of 130kmph.
- Now, two locomotives, each with 6,000 horsepower, are attached to the front as well as the rear of the train which will enable faster acceleration and deceleration, saving time
- Earlier this month Western Railways confirmed that the travel time on the Delhi-Mumbai route will be reduced by over 5 hours since Rajdhani train speed will be hiked from 130 Kmph to 160 Kmph
New Delhi: Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani now faster. Now, Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani passengers will reach their destination one hour earlier as the train will take less time to travel between the two cities due to the push-pull technology which uses two locomotives. It may be noted that with one locomotive, the Rajdhani covers the 1,384 km between the two cities in 15 hours 50 minutes at a speed of 130kmph.
Now, two locomotives, each with 6,000 horsepower, are attached to the front as well as the rear of the train which will enable faster acceleration and deceleration, saving time. Apart from the reduced total journey time, Indian Railways is hoping that with push-pull technology the average speed of passenger trains will go up due to faster acceleration. Additionally, the need to reverse the locomotive at the terminal station is also eliminated.
Western Railways public relations officer Ravinder Bhakar recently informed that they have received all the necessary approvals and they will observe the actual time savings for this train for a few days before incorporating it in the timetable.
Train number 12951/52 Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani Express which comes under the Western Railway division will be pulled by two locomotives – one at each end of the train which will enhance the speed throughout the train and in turn help reduce travel time by about 45-60 minutes on this route.
The train leaves from Mumbai Central railway station in the evening to arrive at New Delhi railway station the next morning. Enroute it stops at Borivali, Surat, Vadodara, Ratlam, Nagda and Kota, travelling at a maximum speed of 130 Kmph. With the help of two locomotives operating under the push-pull method, the time is cut down by up to an hour.
It is worth noting that railways has been trying several options in order to cut travel time between Mumbai and New Delhi. Aside from the push-pull technology, it is also planning to boost infrastructure to upgrade speed on the route to 160 Kmph, which will cut travel time to 10 hours.
According to Bhakar, this technology will soon be used on a regular basis on train number 12953/54 August Kranti Rajdhani Express as well. Note that Central Railway has already adopted this technology for train number 22221/22222 Mumbai CSMT-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express that passes via Bhopal.
It is worth mentioning that earlier this month Western Railways confirmed that the travel time on the Delhi-Mumbai route will be reduced by over 5 hours since Rajdhani train speed will be hiked from 130 Kmph to 160 Kmph. The project includes work such as fencing, Automatic Train Protection System (ETCS 2/TPWS), Mobile Train Radio Communication, and automated and mechanised diagnostic systems, which will considerably enhance safety and reliability. The policy also requires removal of all level crossings.
By increasing the speed, the travel time between Delhi-Mumbai will be reduced to just 10 hours. WR tweeted about the plan saying, “After approval of the Central Govt, Mumbai-Delhi route will be upgraded to run Rajdhani Express at 160 Kmph to cut the travel time to nearly 10 hrs, under #MissionRaftaar.”
Indian Railways, under its 100-day action plan, has envisaged reducing the travel time on the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes. The ‘Mission Raftaar’ was first announced in the Railway Budget 2016-17. Under this mission, the target was to double the average speed of freight trains and increasing the average speed of all non-suburban passenger trains by 25 Kmph in the next 5 years.
Principal routes that were identified under this comprised six routes on Golden Quadrilateral and diagonals namely, Delhi–Mumbai, Delhi–Howrah, Howrah-Chennai, Chennai–Mumbai, Delhi–Chennai and Howrah–Mumbai.
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