Delhi-Ludhiana trains at 130 km/hr soon

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, January 24

With the completion of the work to upgrade tracks and signal system between Sahnewal-Ludhiana section and the approval accorded by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, many trains on New Delhi-Ludhiana section would soon be running at a speed of 130 kmph, thereby curtailing the journey time.

Trials for the purpose have already commenced. Presently, most trains on this section operate at a speed ranging between 65 and 110 (highest) kmph.

According to Anurag Kumar, Senior Divisional Engineer, Ferozepur Division, Northern Railway, work is being executed on war-footing to upgrade tracks and signals on Ludhiana-Jalandhar section with state-of-the-art machines and equipment such as T-28 and Unimate so as to strengthen the tracks for high-speed trains.

“Work is in progress to increase ballast cushion of 40 sections of rail track from 300 to 350 mm and replacement of 52-kg section rails with 60-kg rails is going on at Ludhiana-Jalandhar section. At the same time, work to replace thick web switches with high-speed points and crossings is being carried out at all stations on this section,” he said.

The railway official further said tracks on Sutlej bridge and all other bridges were being upgraded and a double distance signal system was proposed to be introduced to apprise the loco-pilot with advance status of signal.