‘Fail to understand why speed of long distance trains hasn’t increased over the years’: Parliament panel to Railways

It further added that the targets for higher speeds of coaching and freight trains were fixed multiple times between 1960 and 2016-17, but despite repeated timeline revisions, the goals have not been met.

“The Committee note from audit observation that the target of achieving 160 Kmph speed of Coaching trains and 100 Kmph speed of Freight trains, were fixed on several occasions between 1960 to 2016-17 and the timeline to increase the speed has been constantly revised. However, the same has not been achieved yet,” the PAC report reads.

Mission Raftaar in Indian Railways

The report further stated that Indian Railways had launched ‘Mission Raftaar’ in 2016-17, aiming to double the average speed of freight trains from 25 kmph to 50 kmph and increase the average speed of Mail/Express trains from 50 kmph to 75 kmph by the end of 2021-22. However, the average speeds achieved were only 23.6 kmph for freight trains and 50.6 kmph for Mail/Express trains, it said.

In its recommendations, the parliamentary panel said that while the Ministry of Railways has taken several steps to improve the average and maximum speeds of trains, the lack of an integrated approach across all zonal railways has been a major hindrance.

The panel asked the national transporter to prepare a comprehensive plan involving all zonal railways to achieve the desired increase in average and maximum speeds for both passenger and freight trains, ensuring that safety is not compromised.

“The Committee would expect an incremental increase in average speed of trains from 5 to 10 km/hr every few years in express trains which will reduce travelling time by a few hours for long distance trains,” it said.