Railways To Offer Faster And Convenient Journeys From January 1

New Delhi: Passengers can enjoy faster and more convenient journeys with the introduction of a new train timetable from January 1.

Several travellers will be able to reach their destinations at least 30-20 minutes earlier than before, making daily commuters and long-distance trips more comfortable and time-saving.

The updated schedule brings about several passenger-friendly changes, including the introduction of new trains, extended routes, increased frequency on select services, revised train numbers, and adjusted arrival and departure times to better suit travelers’ needs. Moreover, the new timetable will witness addition of new stoppages for 61 trains at various stations, making rail travel more accessible for commuters and residents.

The railways is undergoing major infrastructure upgrades, including track doubling, interlocking and non-interlocking work, signaling upgradation and electrification bringing a noticeable boost in train speeds and shorter journey times. As a result of such improvements, the train timetable has been revised to reflect faster and more efficient services.

“The new timetable for train operations will be released on January 1. It includes new trains, extension of trains, increase in frequency, changes in train numbers, new stoppages, and changes in arrival and departure times at various stations. A key feature of the new timetable is the introduction of new stoppages for 61 trains at various stations," a senior Railway official said.

New timetable and stoppages

The new timetable includes 12 pairs of new trains, extension of four pairs of trains, change in terminal stations for twp trains, increase in frequency for two pairs of trains, changes in train numbers for 12 trains, and new stoppages for 164 trains, of which 61 trains will have new stoppages from January 1.

Increased speed for trains

Two trains have been converted from Mail/Express to Superfast with an increase in speed for 89 trains, resulting in changes to their arrival and departure times at various stations. Furthermore, changes of 30 minutes or more in the arrival and departure times of 66 trains at various stations have also been incorporated.

Capacity improved

To improve the capacity, expansion of the rail network has been taken up in a major way. The commissioning or laying of new track across Indian Railways is around 34,428 km during the last 10 years. As per railway data, about 7,599 km of new track was commissioned from 2009-14 which was average commissioning 4.2km/day. However, new tracks have been commissioned 34,428 km from 2014-25 which is average commissioning 8.57 km/day.

New gauge conversion and doubling

Across Indian Railways, 431 infrastructure projects (154 new line, 33 gauge conversion and 244 doubling) of total length of 35,966 Km, costing around Rs 6.75 lakh crore were sanctioned till April. New Lines for 16,142, length commissioned till March this year 3,036 km. Gauge conversion: 4,180 km and length commissioned till March 2,997 km. Doubling/multitracking 35,966 km, and length commissioned in the same period 12,769 km, as per railways.

Signalling System

Upgradation and improvement of railway infrastructure have been carried out following which several measures are being taken by the railways to modernize and upgrade tracks and signalling system including modern track structure consisting of 60kg, 90 Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) rails, wider and heavier Pre-stressed Concrete Sleepers (PSC) with elastic fastening, fan-shaped layout turnout on PSC sleepers and Steel Channel/H-beam Sleepers on girder bridges are being used while carrying out primary track renewals.

Besides, Thick Web Switches and Weldable CMS Crossings are being used in turnout renewal works and supply of 130m/260m long rail panels have been increased to avoid welding of joints, thereby improving safety, Thick Web Switch Expansion Joints are being used in place of earlier Conventional/Improved SEJs, adoption of better welding technology for rails Flash Butt Welding, adoption of mechanized system for track maintenance using high output plain tampers and points & crossing tampers for improved maintainability & reliability of track.

Electrical & Electronic Interlocking Systems

Electrical/Electronic Interlocking Systems with centralized operation of points and signals in place of old mechanical signalling have been provided at 6,656 stations as on October 31.

Interlocking of Level Crossing Gates (LC) has been provided at 10,098 Gates upto October 31 for enhancing safety. Axle counters for automatic clearance of Block Section, BPAC (Block Proving Axle Counter) are provided to ensure complete arrival of trains without manual intervention before granting line clearance to receive next train and to reduce human element. These systems have been provided on 6142 Block Sections up to the same period.

Automatic Block Signalling (ABS) that enhances line capacity within existing track infrastructure has been provided at 6341 Route km in the same period.

Speed Potential increased

As a result of several measures taken by the railways, there has been a significant increase in the speed potential of the rail network. The speed potential of the entire railway network are Sectional Speed kmph 130 and above were 5,036 track km (in the year 2014) and 23,010 track km (till November 2025). Section speed 110-130 kmph 26,409 track km (in the year 2014) and 60,726 track km (till Nov 2025), below 110 kmph was 47,897 track km (2014) and 21,936 track km (till Nov 2025).

Adopting Modern technologies

The railways have adopted Deployment of Integrated Track Monitoring Systems (ITMS) and Oscillation Monitoring System (OMS) for comprehensive health assessment to ascertain optimal maintenance requirements, adoption of portable Track Measuring Trolley for continuous recording of track parameters in yards, and using web enabled Track Management System (TMS) for integration and data analytics of the track inspection records received through various sources to enable precise maintenance inputs.

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