500 Mail Express trains speeded up in new Railways timetable: Ministry

In the Railways' new timetable, about 500 Mail Express trains have been speeded up, the Railway Ministry said on Monday.

In addition, 130 services (65 pairs) have been converted to 'superfast' category, it said.

Overall, the average speed of all trains has increased by about 5 per cent leading to availability of nearly 5 percent additional paths for operation of more trains, a statement from the ministry said.

The Indian Railways released its new All India Railway Time Table known as "Trains At A Glance (TAG)" on its official website -- indianrailways.gov.in -- that came into effect on October 1.

In the new time table, a slew of premium trains like the Vande Bharat Express between New Delhi-Varanasi and New Delhi-Katra, have also been introduced, the statement said.

Another Vande Bharat Express train has also been introduced between Gandhinagar and Mumbai, it said.

The punctuality of Indian Railways for Mail Express trains during the year 2022-23 is about 84 per cent which is about 9 per cent more than the punctuality of about 75 per cent achieved during 2019-20, it said.

Indian Railways runs about 3,240 Mail/Express trains which include Vande Bharat Express, Gatimaan Express, Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express, Humsafar Express, Tejas Express, Duronto Express, Antyodaya Express, Garib Rath Express, Sampark Kranti Express, Yuva Express, Uday Express, Janshatabdi Express and others.

In addition, about 3,000 passenger trains and 5,660 suburban trains are also operated over the Indian Railways network. The volume of passengers carried daily is about 2.23 crore.

To clear extra rush and meet passenger demand, more than 65,000 special train trips were operated during 2021-22. About 566 coaches were permanently augmented to increase the carrying capacity and maximize the utilisation of rolling stock.