Indian Railways to Discontinue 500 Regular Trains

Once trains start operating normally, Indian Railways is planning to implement a 'zero-based' time-table for all trains. Under the revision, the schedule and frequency of the passenger trains will be revised to reduce the number of halts of mail/express trains. As per reports, 500 regular trains may be discontinued and 10,000 stops across the railways network will be erased. Around 15% more freight trains will run on exclusive corridors and the average speed of passenger trains will be increased by 10% once the revision is implemented. The time-table will come into effect once the train services return to normalcy.

Under the new time-table, trains with a yearly average occupancy of less than 50% will not find a place in the network. If necessary, such trains may get merged with other, more popular trains. Railways through the implementation of such steps are planning to increase its annual earnings by more than Rs 1,500 crore.

The report also cites that long-distance trains will ideally not have halts within 200 km of each other unless there is a major city in the route. Officials also said that a total of 10,000 stops have been listed to be scratched in respect of certain trains. Further, smaller places will be linked to major stations through connecting trains instead of express trains or passengers making such stops.

While tourist destinations and pilgrimage centres will be major stops, suburban networks such as the Mumbai locals will not be affected by the new timetable.

No specific date has been given, but the timetable could be rolled out early next year depending on how India copes with rising coronavirus cases.