Mumbai-Ahmedabad Route To Have Long-Distance Trains Running At 160 Kmph From March, Here's What Western Railways Did To Make It Possible

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad route of Western Railway (WR) is set to have long-distance express mail trains running at an increased speed of 160 kilometre per hour (kmph) from March, Indian Express reported.

WR Mumbai division's Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Neeraj Verma confirmed this development and said that major works have been completed to support the increased speed.

Work was done on track strengthening, upgrading electrical overhead wires and signals, and installing crash barriers to stop stray animals from entering, so that trains can run at an increased speed.

Verma further elaborated that initially, only premium trains like Tejas, Shatabdi, and Vande Bharat will be operated at 160 kmph and other Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB)- coach equipped trains will follow after that.

With this increased speed, travel time will be reduced by an average of 30 minutes on this route. Currently, 170 long-distance trains run daily on this route, of which 120 have LHB-equipped coaches.

The speed limits for them are 100 kmph from Mumbai Central to Borivali, 110 kmph from Borivali to Virar, and 130 kmph from Virar to Ahmedabad. However, from March, Virar-Ahmedabad will have a speed limit of 160 kmph.

The speed limits between Mumbai and Virar are not being increased because local trains also run on this route. Also, there is a curve almost at every 2-3km of distance, disallowing increased speeds.