Indian Railway enhances Speed to 130 Kmph Along the Golden Quadrilateral & Golden Diagonal sections

Entire GQ-GD route over South Central Railway, now fit to run at 130 Kmph Speed

A total of 2824 Kms (including Up &Down Lines) over South Central Railway Zone is now fit to run at 130 Kmph speed.

Indian Railway has started the New Year 2021 by achieving a landmark achievement by drastically enhancing the maximum speed to 130 kmph for 1,280 km length out of 1,612 Km in Golden Quadrilateral – Golden Diagonal (GQ-GD) route.

This covers the entire GQ-GD route over South Central Railway, except Vijayawada – Duvvada section, where signalling up-gradation work is in progress.

The enhanced speed limits could be achieved due to the systematic and planned strengthening of track & its infrastructure by removing bottlenecks in these sections on a fast pace. This included heavier rails, laying of 260 meters Long welded rail panels, improvement of curves and gradients among others.

Based on these improvements done by the Zone, the RDSO/Lucknow conducted oscillation trials through Confirmatory Oscillograph Car Run (COCR) consisting of instrumented coaches of all classes at 130 Kmph speed during July and October last year. During this check, in addition to track parameters, other areas like Signalling aspect, Traction distribution equipment, Locomotive& coach fitness were also checked and recorded.

Accordingly, the South Central Railway zone has received sanction to enhance the maximum speed limits to 130 kmph along the following routes:

1. Golden Diagonal (Grand Trunk) Route: 744 Route Km

i.          Ballarshah to Kazipet              – 234 Rkm

ii.         Kazipet-Vijayawada-Gudur   – 510 Rkm

2. Golden Quadrilateral Route (Chennai -Mumbai section): 536 Route Km

i.          Renigunta to Gooty    – 281 Rkm

ii.         Gooty to Wadi            –  255Rkm

Already, the maximum speed limits in the High-Density Network (HDN) between Secunderabad – Kazipet (132 Kms distance) had been enhanced to 130 kmph. Source: PIB

As such, including both the Up and Down lines in these sections, a total of 2,824 kms (1412Rkms) has now been made fit to run at a speed of 130 kmph. This covers the entire GQ-GD route over SCR, except Vijayawada – Duvvada section, where signaling up-gradation work is in progress.

It is noteworthy that despite COVID pandemic, Indian Railways has witnessed an unprecedented growth in development of infrastructure, innovation, capacity expansion of network, freight diversification. Railways has used covid challenge as an opportunity to lay the foundation for future development and next level of traveling experience for passengers.

The Golden Quadrilateral & Golden Diagonal (GQ /GD) Routes are –

• New Delhi – Mumbai (1384 Km) via Mathura and Vadodara
• New Delhi – Chennai (2182 Km) via Nagpur, and Vijayawada
• New Delhi – Howrah (1454 Km) via Kanpur and Dhanbad
• Howrah – Chennai (1662 Km) via Visakhapatnam
• Mumbai – Chennai (1284 Km) via Wadi and Renigunta
• Mumbai – Howrah (1967 Km) via Nagpur

Length wise New Delhi – Chennai (North to South) is Longest route i.e 2182 Km, and Mumbai – Howrah (West to East) is Shortest route i.e. 1284 Km.

Railway wise Details of Sections on Golden Quadrilateral & Golden Diagonal Routes

Modernisation of Signalling System

Modernisation of Signalling System is proposed to be taken up on High Density Routes of Indian Railways including Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and Golden Diagonal (GD) Route. The work includes provision of Modern Train Control System.

As a prelude to modernisation work of signalling system on Indian Railways, four works totaling 640 Route km at total cost of ₹ 1,609 crores have been sanctioned in Supplementary Works Programme 2018-19 in following sections for extensive trials,

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