Mumbai, July 31: In what is believed to be good news for lakhs of commuters in Mumbai, the Indian Railways is mulling to increase the speed of trains to 110 kmph. Once a final decision is taken, it will give scope to add 20% more services to the existing railway system across the city, reports said. The initiative will also increase daily services of local train on the Central and Western Line in Mumbai. While, on a national level, the Indian Railways will also run the first train to be partially operated by a private operator. Indian Railways Planning Vande Bharat-Type Trains From Mumbai To Pune, Nashik and Baroda.

According to a report by DNA, Rajesh Agarwal, Member Rolling Stock, Railway Board was quoted saying that the project will be held in different stages and in the first stage, the speed will be increased to 110 kmph and above. In the second stage, the Railways would introduce MEMU services namely between Mumbai-Nashik, Mumbai-Pune and Bhusaval-Nashik which would cover the journey in 2 hours. V Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board was quoted in the report saying that first such train will run by September between Delhi and Lucknow.  First Passenger Train in India ran 165 Years ago. 

As of now, the Central Railway operates 1,774 services while the Western Railway runs 1,367 services every day. The local trains plying on Central, Western and Harbour lines run at an average speed of 80-100 kmph depending on the stretch it is running. "We are looking at improving train speeds in three different stages. In the first stage the local train speeds will be increased to 110 kmph and above," Agarwal said.

Upgrading passengers service is a constant endeavour of the Railways. Earlier this month, popular e-ticketing website and app, RailYatri, has now been authorised by the IRCTC to continue its ticket booking services, months after the Delhi High Court termed the services “unauthorised”.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2019 04:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).