Railways set to make Rs 8,000 crore with ‘zero-based’ timetable

The timetable works on the premise that the existence of every train and stop must be justified based on goals of providing transportation with optimum and efficient utilisation of the available resources. It is akin to reimagining railway network operations from scratch.

Indian Railways is set to make around Rs 8,000 crore per year by way of savings and earnings by implementing its new “zero-based” timetable, as per internal assessment.

The timetable works on the premise that the existence of every train and stop must be justified based on goals of providing transportation with optimum and efficient utilisation of the available resources. It is akin to reimagining railway network operations from scratch.

In the new timetable, around 600 trains with traditionally low patronage are proposed to be knocked off the system, while around 400 trains are being either merged or upgraded.

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That apart, around 10,000 halts are proposed to be done away with.

The new timetable — built in collaboration with IIT-Bombay — will also create around 15 per cent more dedicated paths for freight trains, translating into more earnings for the national transporter, sources said. As per internal calculations, this will result in savings of around Rs 4,000 crore and extra earnings of at least another Rs 4,000 crore.

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