South Central Railway (SCR) has taken up the task of upgrading maximum permissible speed in the sections of ‘Golden Quadrilateral/Golden Diagonal (GQ/GD) routes’ including the sections of Balharshah - Kazipet - Vijayawada - Gudur, Vijayawada- Visakhapatnam and Wadi- Gooty - Renigunta sections to 130 kmph.
Existing maximum permissible speed between Balharshah - Kazipet - Vijayawada and Kazipet -Secunderabad is about 120 kmph, while it is 110 kmph between Vijayawada - Gudur and Wadi -Gooty - Renigunta sections. These routes are under the process of speed upgradation up to 130 kmph as decided by the Railway Board, informed General Manager Gajanan Mallya on Wednesday.
Railway Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO/Lucknow) had already conducted ‘oscillation trials’ through ‘Confirmatory Oscillograph Car Run’ (COCR) consisting of 24 coaches of all classes. During this check, the engineering teams travelling in these special inspection trains check for the signalling, traction distribution equipment, locomotive and coach fitness.
Trial runs were conducted in July between Balharshah - Kazipet - Secunderabad and Gooty - Renigunta sections. Works pertaining to upgradation of these routes to required standards like sturdier rails, improvement of curves, gradients and other components in double line electrified routes are under way, he said.
Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Ch. Rakesh said about 260-metres-long welded rail panels are being laid to improve track structure. Trial runs are also being carried out in the remaining sections of Kazipet - Vijayawada - Gudur & Wadi - Gooty sections with the track strengthening and other infrastructure enhancement already in progress to meet the specified standards.
Once all the infrastructure improvements are done, a detailed report will be sent to the Commissioner of Railway Safety (Secunderabad circle) for getting necessary permissions to enhance the maximum permissible speed of all these routes to 130 kmph. Mr. Mallya pointed out that increasing the trains speed in these important sections of Golden Quadrilateral/Golden Diagonal routes will definitely boost the operation of passenger and freight trains. “As the running time of the passenger services can be drastically reduced, it will pave the way for running more number of trains,” he added.
