Central Railway feels the need for speed, moves ahead of 120 kmph mark

The trial was held on the Panvel-Roha section between Nagothane and Pen station.

A Central Railway train on Tuesday exceeded the 120 kmph speed limit on the Panvel-Roha section in the 23 km distance between Nagothane and Pen. The trial, conducted in the presence of the Commissioner of Railway Safety and CR General Manager DK Sharma, is expected to give a big boost to speed up trains on the section.

Mission Raftaar
The project to speed up trains is part of Mission Raftaar, and the move is in the larger interest to cut down travel time between key cities. Central Railway has been working on seven such sections. They include Mumbai CSMT-Kasara, Diva-Panvel-Roha, Amravati-Narkher, Pune-Miraj-Kolhapur, Miraj-Latur, Manmad to Solapur and Boisar-Diva.

Increasing the speed between these sections will contribute overall in cutting down the travel time of long-distance trains connecting different parts of India. Work is being carried on in two phases: phase I includes increasing the speed limit of trains to 130 kmph, while the second phase will include increasing it to 160 kmph.

"The key challenges to get this done are to ease caution orders and speed restrictions, cut down level crossings, and remove congestion by making operational changes in the timetable. There is a set target by 2020 of converting more sections into high-speed," a CR spokesperson said.

Electrified railway
The electrification of the 40-km Pen-Roha section was inaugurated by Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday, after which Mumbai division is now 100% electrified. The R60 crore project had been sanctioned in 2016-17.

The Panvel-Roha rail stretch is one of the key areas, as it connects the Konkan Railway and down south. "Electrification work has begun on Konkan Railway. The electrification of the line has been completed at the south of Konkan Railway and to the north of the line is the Roha-Panvel stretch. It was important to complete the electrification of this route for seamless electric train connectivity," another senior official said.

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