The Centre on Saturday sanctioned a third rail line between the most-congested Allahabad-Mughalsarai section that has been the major bottleneck or Indian Railways causing inordinate delays of trains over the years.
Besides to speed up trains along Delhi – Howrah route, a boundary wall along Delhi – Howrah route was also sanctioned to avoid train delays due to infringement of cattle along the tracks. Following serious grievances over the constant delay of trains in North Indian part, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal sanctioned the third required line following a review meeting of three most affected Railway zones — Northern Railways, North Central Railways and the East Central Railways.
Goyal reviewed the performance of all three Zones and directed the General Managers to improve punctuality significantly by introducing planned integrated blocks for maintenance. The Third line between Allahabad-Mughalsarai sanctioned will minimize congestion at Mughalsarai – Howrah route The Rail Minister reiterated that punctuality of trains has to be improved significantly within few months without affecting the routine maintenance work related to Safety of passengers. He advised the General Managers to plan integrated traffic blocks once a week so all maintenance related works may take place simultaneously.
“These planned integrated blocks may be advertised well in advance so the passengers are well informed about the blocks and inconvenience may thus be minimised,” said a senior Rail Ministry official sharing the meeting details.
The meeting outcome also decided to put in additional rakes/coaches given to Zones to improve punctuality and minimize time loss in case of delayed trains arriving at terminating stations. “Use of viable alternate routes for freight trains was suggested so as to keep the main lines available for the passenger/mail express trains,” the official added.
Goyal also directed that no new trains be introduced as the tracks are over saturated and congested. For real time monitoring, Global Positioning System (GPS) should be installed in all locomotives of Indian Railways. He also directed for a better Time table of trains be improvised as per the new stoppages.
Besides several slew of measures he also desired by September 2018, all stations across Indian Railways should have separate toilets for men & women with modern infrastructure and well equipped facilities and point of Sale (PoS) machines should be provided in all Mail/ Express trains.
Earlier in the day Chairman Railway Board Ashwani lohani conducted inspection of Delhi area and inspected tracks outside Delhi. lohani also reviewed the Rs 60 crore renovation work undertaken at New Delhi Railway Station. The platform No 1 is being constructed to give world class facilities, with air conditioned new waiting halls, modern amenities and a dedicated RPF control unit. Delhi Division DRM RN Singh was present on the occasion.
