Soon, trains to run at 130 kmph between New Delhi & Ludhiana

Track upgradation fast-tracked to raise speed of trains

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, January 19

With completion of upgradation work of tracks and signal system between Sahnewal-Ludhiana section and the approval accorded by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, many trains on New Delhi-Ludhiana section would very soon be running at a speed of 130 kmph, thereby curtailing the journey time. Trials for the purpose have already commenced. Presently, most trains on this section operate at a speed ranging between 65 to 110 (highest) kmph.

According to Anurag Kumar, Senior Divisional Engineer, Ferozepur Division, Northern Railway, work is being executed on war-footing for upgradation of tracks and signal on Ludhiana-Jalandhar section with state-of-the-art machines and equipment such as T-28 and Unimate so as to strengthen the tracks for high speed trains.

“Work is in progress to increase ballast cushion of 40 sections of rail track from 300 to 350 mm and replacement of 52-kg section rails with 60-kg rails is going on at Ludhiana-Jalandhar section. At the same time, work for replacement of thick web switches with extremely high-speed points and crossings is being carried out at all stations located on this section,” he stated.

The railway official further said tracks on Sutlej Bridge and all other bridges were being upgraded and a double distance signal system was proposed to be introduced to apprise the loco-pilot with advance status of signal. Moreover, to make the Ludhiana-Jalandhar railway corridor more secure, boundary wall was being constructed on both sides of the railway track.

“Hopefully, all this work will be completed by end of this year and speed of trains on Ludhiana-Jalandhar stretch will also be increased to 130 kmph,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Railways have further extended cancellation, partial cancellation and diversion of some trains due to farmers’ agitation in Punjab.

Accordingly, the 05211/12 Darbhanga-Amritsar-Darbhanga Jaannayak festival special express train would remain cancelled till January 21. The 02715/16 Nanded-Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand special express train would short-terminate at and short-originate from Chandigarh till January 21 and the 08237/38 Korba-Amritsar-Korba Chhattisgarh special express train would be short-terminated at and short-originated from Ambala Cantt till January 21.

The Mumbai Central-Amritsar-Mumbai Central Golden Temple Mail, the 02925/26 Bandra Terminus-Amritsar-Bandra Terminus Pashchim Express, the 04649 Jaynagar-Amritsar Saryu Yamuna express, the 04651 Amritsar-Jaynagar Humsafar express, the Haridwar-Amritsar-Haridwar Janshatabadi express and the 03005 Howrah-Amritsar Mail would run on diverted route of Beas-Tarntaran-Amritsar while Sambalpur-Jammu Tawi special express would be diverted to run via Jalandhar Cantt-Mukerian-Pathankot Cantt.