Hyderabad, South Central Railway has taken up upgrading maximum permissible speed in the sections of Golden Quadrilateral/Golden Diagonal (GQ/GD) routes.

Strengthening of track and infrastructure and removing bottlenecks in these sections are on fast pace to enhance maximum speed up to 130 kmph.

According to South Central Railway (SCR), speed trials are in progress for upgradation of speed in these routes.

Balharshah - Kazipet - Vijayawada - Gudur,Vijayawada- Visakhapatnam and Wadi - Gooty - Renigunta sections come under GQ/GD routes over SCR jurisdiction.

The existing maximum permissible speed between Balharshah - Kazipet - Vijayawada and Kazipet - Secunderabad is 120 kmph, while it is 110 kmph between Vijayawada - Gudur and Wadi - Gooty - Renigunta sections.

These routes are under the process of speed upgradation up to 130 kmph as per the directives of Railway Board, SCR said.

As an initial step to measure the track parameters, RDSO/Lucknow is conducting oscillation trials through Confirmatory Oscillograph Car Run (COCR) consisting of 24 coaches of all classes.

During this check, in addition to track parameters, other areas like signalling aspect, traction distribution equipment, locomotive and coach fitness will also be checked and recorded.

These trials have been conducted in July between Balharshah - Kazipet - Secunderabad and Gooty - Renigunta sections.

The works pertaining to upgradation of these routes to required standards from track point of view like heavier rails, improvement of curves, gradients and other components in these routes are under fast pace as these double line sections are already having double distant signal and are electrified, and 260 meters long welded rail panels are laid to improve track structure.

Oscillation trials were carried out from October 4 to October 7 in Kazipet - Vijayawada - Gudur and Wadi - Gooty sections.

Track strengthening and infrastructure enhancement are already in progress in these sections to meet the specified standards.

On completion of the speed trials and its related works, a detailed report will be submitted to Commissioner Railway Safety, Secunderabad circle for obtaining necessary permissions to enhance the maximum permissible speed of all these routes to 130 km per hour.

Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR said that the enhancement of speed in these important sections of Golden Quadrilateral/Golden Diagonal routes will definitely boost the operation of passenger and freight trains.

He also stated that the running time of the passenger services can be drastically reduced and this will pave the way for running more trains.