Delhi-Howrah rail route to have boundary wall along it: Minister

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has sanctioned raising a boundary wall along Delhi-Howrah route to speed up trains and avoid their delays due to cattle infringement on the tracks, said the Railway Ministry today.

During a review meeting with some zonal railways, the minister also decided to prioritise a third line between Allahabad and Mughalsarai, said the ministry in a statement.

During the meeting, the minister also asked the zonal heads to advertise all planned maintenance work to ensure the convenience of passengers.

Goyal met the general managers of North Central Railways, North Eastern Railways and East Central Railways as part of a series of review meetings planned with the zonal heads.

During the meeting, the minister reiterated that punctuality of trains has to be improved significantly within few months without affecting the routine maintenance work related to the safety of passengers.

"In order to speed up trains along DelhiHowrah route, a boundary wall along the route is sanctioned to avoid train delays due to infringement of cattle along the tracks," the statement quoted the minister as saying.

He advised the general managers to plan integrated traffic blocks once a week so that all maintenance works may be undertaken simultaneously.

Goyal also prioritised the sanctioning of a third line between Allahabad-Mughalsarai to minimize congestion at MughalsaraiHowrah route.

He has also said that additional rakes/coaches shall be given to Zones to improve punctuality and minimize time loss in case of delayed trains arriving at terminating stations.

For real time monitoring, Global Positioning System (GPS) should be installed in all locomotives of Indian Railways, he said.

The minister also set a September 2018 target for all railway stations across the country to have separate, well-equipped, modern toilets for men and women.