Indian railways ensures safe and hassle free travel

New Delhi, Oct 23: Safety and hassle free travel became the top priorities of the Indian Railways under the PM Modi government.

After a string of accidents and heavy casualties since 2014, the year 2017-18 saw the number of accidents falling to 73 - the least ever. There was a 62% reduction in consequential train accidents from 118 in 2013-14 to 73 in 2017-18. Also the replacement and maintenance of old tracks - even if at the cost of efficient mobility - has taken a front seat. There was a 50% increase in track renewal from 2,926 kms in 2013-14 to 4,405 kms in 2017-18.

Also, the Railways reduced the running time of 14 premier trains, including the Rajdhani Expresses from the national capital to Howrah and the Patna and Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi with a upgradation of signalling system on congested routes. In October 2016, a total of 350 Mails/Expresses and 74 Superfast trains, including Rajdhanis and Shatabdis, were reaching destinations 5-25 minutes before time because of removal of bottlenecks and rationalisation of timetable.

This year, the Ministry of Railways released its new All India Railway Time Table known as "TRAINS AT A GLANCE (TAG)" effective from 15th August 2018. In addition to the "Trains at a Glance", all the 17 Zonal Railways also released their respective Zonal Railway Time Tables (5 Zonal timetables in all, each Zonal Time Table comprising 3-4 Zonal Railways).

In the year 2017-18, 90 number of new services was introduced, 43 number of services were extended and an increase in frequency of 9 number of services was done. In the current year upto 15.08.2018, 35 number of services have already been introduced, 28 number of services have been extended and increase in frequency of 5 number of services have been affected.