The Indian Railways has announced that it has speeded up 261 trains by up to 2 hours, providing better and faster train journeys to the passengers. This change will be reflected in the new timetable with effect from July 1st 2019. The speeding up of trains is a part of “Mission Raftaar”, which was announced in the Railway budget 2016-17, and the mission had aimed in increasing the speed of all non-suburban trains by 25 kmph in 5 years’ time.
Some of the trains that have implemented the new timetable include the Vande Bharat Express, 34 Humsafar Express trains, 2 Tejas Express trains, one Uday Express train, and 11 Antyodaya Express trains. Several of the trains with the new timetables are also aided with around 40 new services, an increase in the frequency of 8 services and an extension of around 21 services.
As a part of Mission Raftaar, the Indian Railways replaced 141 short distance passenger trains with Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMUs) and Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMUs) during 2018-19, improving the train travelling experience of the passengers. To ensure better convenience and safety of the passengers, 411 pairs of long distance trains are now running using Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches.
