The Hindu : National : Now, Delhi to Agra in just 90 minutes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 19, 2004

National

National

Now, Delhi to Agra in just 90 minutes

By Sandeep Joshi

NEW DELHI, DEC. 18. In what could prove to be a boon to tourism in Agra, Northern Railway is making preparations to run India's fastest train at 150 km per hour between Delhi and Agra, cutting down travel time to just 90 minutes.

Likely to be inaugurated by March end next year, the superfast train will have only air-conditioned hi-tech coaches and would halt briefly at Mathura while covering the 200 km distance between the two stations.

The initial plans are to run the present Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi between Delhi and Agra at 150 km per hour, while the rest of the distance would be covered at normal speed. And to ensure a safe journey, Northern Railway is upgrading its signalling system besides erecting walls at places where there are possibilities that miscreants might target the train or tracks.

Informing that the trial run of the train was already being conducted in the Delhi-Agra section, Northern Railway officials said express trains now take at least two and half hours to cover the distance, while in the case of passenger trains the travel time is as much as four hours. Interestingly, Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains are the only ones that run at speeds of over 100 kmph.

But with the introduction of the superfast train between Delhi and Agra, railway officials hope that it would pave the way for faster travel between other important cities across India.

The new superfast service will ensure speedy and convenient travel for both domestic and international tourists.

"However, ordinary citizens might find the travel costly as there will be no general class coaches in the train and the AC fare would be more than four times the normal fare between Delhi and Agra," the officials said. Officials said the condition of present railway tracks on the Delhi-Agra section was good enough to allow movement of trains at 150 kmph.

The trail runs are being closely observed and track upgradation whenever and wherever required is being carried out.

Besides introducing advanced signalling system between Delhi and Agra, around half-a-dozen stations enroute would be equipped with modern panel interlocking system.

Other mechanical and conventional systems would also be changed to computerised signalling, the officials said.

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