Madurai railway division has highest freight train speed

Madurai Railway Division has the highest freight train speed of 35.6 kmph in the entire Indian Railways network.

Interacting with the reporters here on Sunday, Madurai Divisional Railway Manager Sharad Srivastava said that optimisation of efficiency in operation has led to the division achieving this record at the national level.

Proper planning in various aspects had led to lesser detention of goods train and also efforts have been taken not to lose much time in pilots and guards taking up mandatory checks.

Another major contribution is putting in place additional infrastructure like doubling of tracks between Madurai and Tirunelveli/Thoothukudi sections which bring more freight loading to Madurai division.

“Some patches of the doubling on Vanchi ManiyachchiThoothukudi section which were commissioned recently has also helped in faster movement of goods trains,” another railway official said.

Effective management in goods crew like pilots and guards and periodical appreciation of the crew for their contribution also helped the division’s average freight train speed increase 12% from 31 kmph in the previous year to 35.6 kmph, the highest among all divisions in the country.

The role of the control room in faster movement of goods trains is also commendable, the official added. Meanwhile, the divison has also registered a record loading of three million tonnes of goods this year.

“We have achieved this even as of March 7 and we still have got more days to increase this number,” the Divisional Railway Manager said. The division has surpassed its previous best of 2.94 million tonnes of freight load recorded in the last financial year.

With loading of 1.44 MT, fertilizer has emerged as the top contributor for making this achievement.