Freight trains to be hauled by two locos to speed up movement

Stepping up efforts to increase speed of freight trains in New Delhi-Howrah and New Delhi-Mumbai sectors, railways is mulling to use double locomotives to speed up goods movement in the two corridors.
Currently the rail route to Mumbai and Howrah from here is highly congested resulting in slowing down of freight movement.
An action plan is being worked out under Mission Raftaar to speed up freight trains by using two locomotive instead of the current practice of one, said a senior Railway Ministry official.
Mission Raftaar was one of the seven important missions unveiled by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in the Railway Budget 2016-17. The Raftar mission envisages a target of doubling average speed of freight trains and increasing the average speed of mail/express trains by 25 km per hour in the next five years.

The official said steps are being taken to avail the path for speedy freight movement so that goods reached destinations at faster pace.
Generally goods trains are hauled by single engine in these routes. If two locomotives are pressed into service then the freight trains will move faster which will help in the movement of more trains including passenger trains in the route.

Besides, initiatives are also being taken to increase the speed of passenger service. Railways has created Mobility directorate, a separate one, to deal with the Mission Rafaar.
Action plan under the Raftaar mission has been chalked out in three phases - short term, medium and long-term.

While short term plan is to be submitted to Railway Board Chairman by June 15, short and long term plans are expected to be submitted by June 30.
The plans are likely to be executed once it gets approval from the authorities as for railways increasing the speed of trains is a priority now.