The Purba Express now takes 22 hours to travel from Howrah to Delhi or from Delhi to Howrah. The Rajdhani Express takes 18 hours to reach Delhi from Howrah. Indian Railway is planning to cover the distance between Delhi and Howrah in 12 hours under the ‘Mission Raftar’ project. Under this project, they want to complete the New Delhi-Howrah and New Delhi-Mumbai routes at a maximum speed of 160 kmph, ahead of schedule. The target is set for September 2023. But the railways are desperate to get the job done this year.
If the plan is successful, the train distance between Howrah and New Delhi will be reduced to 12 hours, Railway said. In order to increase the maximum speed of trains on the New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah routes, the necessary infrastructure development work has been going on at various stages for almost three years. In addition, to track, overhead cable, signaling system improvements, testing of improved rolling stock or trains is also part of that plan.
According to the railway camp, the construction of track and overhead cable infrastructure on about 160 km route under Eastern Railway is almost completed. Tenders have recently been called for signaling infrastructure reform. Agreements have already been reached with DVC and other power companies to provide additional power to the overhead cable. Construction of various substations on the railway side is also nearing completion.
