Railways: Chennai-Delhi, Chennai-Mumbai-Chennai-Kolkata to take less time
3 min read 10 Oct 2022, 12:53 PM ISTIndian Railways said in a statement that passengers bound for Andhra Pradesh destinations, New Delhi, Howrah and Mumbai will benefit from a considerable reduction in journey time
PremiumIndian Railways' Southern Railway zone has increased the maximum permissible speed from the existing 110 kmph to 130 kmph in the Up and Down lines between Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Chennai Central – Gudur (MAS-GDR) which has a length of 134 route kilometers and 268 track kilometer.
Railway Board has issued guidelines for enhancing the maximum permissible speed of all High density network, Golden Quadrilateral and Golden Diagonal routes (GQ-GD) from 110 kmph to 130 kmph. In Southern Railway, Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Chennai Central – Gudur and PuratchiThalaivarDr MGR Chennai Central – Renigunta falls under the category of GQ-GD route.
According to Southern Railway,"Consequent to the speed upgrade in Chennai – Gudur section to 130 Kmph, once the new time table for implementation of enhanced speed comes into force, the passengers bound for Andhra Pradesh destinations, New Delhi, Howrah and Mumbai will benefit from a considerable reduction in journey time."
"A similar speed upgrade is proposed for Chennai – Renigunta section, which connects the city to the pilgrimage centre Tirupati. It is also proposed to upgrade the speed on ‘B’ routes in sections, namely, Arakkonam – Jolarpet – Podanur- Shoranur, Thiruvananthapuram – Kayankulam – Alleppey – Ernakulam, Shoranur-Mangaluru, Chennai Egmore – Villupuram – Tiruchchirappalli – Dindigul section, by 2024-25,"according to a statement by the Southern Railway.
B.G.Mallya, General Manager, Southern Railway said that the public notification for operating trains at a maximum permissible speed of 130 Kmph in Chennai – Gudur section, will be released shortly. He also complimented the officials for the exemplary work done for enhancing the speed limit.
The fitness for running at amaximum permissible speed 130 kmph was granted on 5 October.This has been achieved by the Zone with systematic and planned approach for strengthening the track, traction and signaling system and various bottlenecks were removed by working on a mission mode.
Chennai – Gudur section: High Speed Trial Run at 143 kmph
Following the sanction for running at a maximum permissible speed of 130 kpmh in MAS-GDR section, B.G.Mallya, General Manager, Southern Railway conducted a high-speed trial run at a top speed of 143 kmph and window trailing inspection of Chennai – Gudur section. The General Manager was accompanied by Desh Ratan Gupta, Principal Chief Engineer, Ganesh, Divisional Railway Manager, Chennai, and Senior officials onboard a special train formation.During the speed trial, the train covered the 134 Km stretch of Chennai – Gudur section in 84 minutes clocking top speed 143 Kmph.
Speed upgrade in Chennai – Gudur section with full compliance of mandatory requirements
Following Railway Board’s guidelines to increase the sectional speed in all the ‘GQ-GD’ routes of Indian Railways to 130 Kmph, Chennai – Gudur becomes the first section in Southern Railway to get a speed upgrade of 130 Kmph.
Railway Board and Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, Bengaluruhave stipulated certain requirements to be complied for upgrading Chennai – Gudur section to the recommended speed standards. A series of trial runs were conducted by Railways and RDSO for assessing the fitness of tracks, traction, signals and rolling stock. on compliance of all the requirements laid down, the section was authorized fit for running trains at 130 Kmph on 5 OCtober 2022.
Indian Railways in a statement said that to equip Chennai – Gudur line for handling trains running at 130 Kmph, following works were carried out:
The standard of interlocking at all the stations are upgraded
The maintenance requirement for the track, signal and TRD assets and rolling stocks are augmented.
The curves in these sections were attended to have adequate transition length for the proposed speed wherever feasible.
Complete Track Renewal (CTR) to 60 kg rail and sleepers
Thick web switch in points and crossing
Improved Switch Expansion Joints
H beam sleepers in Girder bridges
