Western Railway reduces travel time of several trains including Rajdhani

Western Railway on Tuesday announced that it had reduced the travel time of several trains under its jurisdiction, the changes coming into effect from October 1 when the new timetable for trains nationwide is implemented. Among the notable ones are the Mumbai Central-New Delhi Rajdhani which has been sped up by 25 minutes, which means the train will now cover the journey in 15 hours and 35 minutes.

"It will depart at 5 pm instead of 4:35 pm from Mumbai Central. Similarly the New Delhi-Mumbai Central Rajdhani will reach Mumbai Central at 8:15 am instead of the current timing of 8:35 am. This is going to be of great help to passengers as several stations enroute will be accessed at timings that are more conducive," said GC Agarwal, general manager, WR during a press interaction on Tuesday.

In all 42 trains have been sped up of which 13 trains have seen their journey time reduced by 60 minutes.

"The speeding up is on WR territory," Agarwal said.

He explained that the speeding up was brought about because 509 kilometres of tracks under WR are now capable of supporting trains at 130 kilometres per hour. The 130 kmph segment is the Virar-Godhra and the Virar-Ahmedabad sections. Another 18 sections on WR can support trains at 110 kmph. This 110 kmph section includes the Borivali-Virar stretch.

"It is the upgrading of these tracks that has made it possible to run trains faster," said Agarwal.