Western Railways (WR) is working on an ambitious project called Mission Raftaar, which aims to cut down the travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad by an hour. The project involves increasing the speeds of trains on important sections, such as Mumbai-Surat-Vadodara-Delhi and Mumbai-Vadodara-Ahmedabad, to 160 kmph. This will enable passengers to enjoy faster and more efficient train journeys.
The project, which is expected to cost ₹3959 crores, is scheduled to be completed by March 2024. Once completed, the trains on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad section will run at 160 kmph, which will allow popular trains like Vande Bharat, Tejas, and Shatabdi Express to operate at this speed. “At present, these trains run at 130 kmph, and take around six hours to cover the distance between the two cities,” said an official. Mission Raftaar aims to increase the speed of passenger trains to 160 mph
Mission Raftaar is a comprehensive initiative to improve the travel time on busy routes by increasing the speed of passenger trains to 160 mph. The project focuses on two major sections, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah, which are 1,479 km and 1,525 km long, respectively. The project will benefit millions of passengers who travel on these routes. Out of the total 1379 Route Kilometers (RKM) of the Mumbai-Delhi section, Western Railway covers nearly 50 per cent, from Mumbai Central to Nagda (694 RKM). The rest is shared by West Central Railways and Northern Railway. Other zonal railways are also working to complete the project by March 2024.
The project involves several engineering works, such as strengthening the bridge approaches using geocells, which is a crucial step to achieve the 160 kmph target. “We have completed the work on the approaches of 126 bridges in WRs jurisdiction, and also rehabilitated 138 bridges and replaced seven bridges by ballasted decks,” said an official, adding that more than 90 works have been completed so far.
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