CR Increases Harbour Line Local Trains' Top Speed To 95 Kmph, Reducing Trip Time

Local trains on the Central Railway’s Harbour line now take 2-3 minutes less to cover the distance between Tilak Nagar and Panvel stations as their top speed on this corridor has been increased to 95 kmph from 80 kmph, an official said on Wednesday. The increase in the speed limit has resulted in “reduction in travelling time” and “improvement in punctuality”, CR said in a release.

CR’s Harbour corridor gives suburban connectivity to Navi Mumbai and Western suburbs of Mumbai from South Mumbai. It is spread between CSMT-Goregaon and CSMT-Panvel. Local trains can attain the top speed limit of 95 kmph between Tilak Nagar and Panvel.

“This (increase in speed limit) has resulted in the reduction of travelling time by 2 to 3 minutes on the Tilaknagar-Panvel section with improvement of punctuality as well, which will be incorporated in the new timetable,” the release stated.

According to the release, various infrastructure measures, including strengthening of tracks, overhead equipment modification, signalling and other technical works, are being carried out to increase the speed of trains.

The release said that increasing the speed beyond 80 kmph was earlier not possible due to the constraints of “braking distance adequacy”.

“In order to facilitate increase in speed, rakes with equivalent speed potential are being utilised which will also enhance the scope for modernized rakes for better service,” the release said.

CR claimed that to ensure the safety of running trains and better riding comfort for passengers, tracks are being maintained to the best of standards and replacement of “old age assets” is also being undertaken on priority.

“The (top) speed of trains has been increased after ensuring all safety aspects and technical inspection by the officials concerned,” the release said.

Of the more than 30 lakh daily commuters on CR, 9-10 lakh use the Harbour corridor where 614 services are run.