The speed of nine railway corridors will be increased from the existing 110 and 130 kmph to 160 and 200 kmph respectively so that inter-metro journeys like Delhi-Kolkata and Delhi-Mumbai can be completed overnight. Announcing this while presenting the Railway Budget 2015-16 in Parliament today the Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhkar Prabhu said this will involve the upgradation of track including turnouts and rolling stock to higher standards as well as the adoption of improved methods of track recording, monitoring and maintenance.

 He said the average speed of freight trains, both in empty and loaded conditions, will also be enhanced. A policy of attaining speeds of 100 kmph for empty freight trains and 75 kmph for loaded trains is being put in place. The Minister said that with the objective of maximizing loading in every train, the loading density on all major freight bearing routes of Indian Railways will be upgraded to 22.82 tonne axle loads.

Rail corridor speed upgrade announced to enable overnight inter-metro travel; freight speed and axle-load policies strengthened. Increase of maximum permissible speeds on nine railway corridors requires upgradation of track infrastructure and rolling stock and adoption of improved track recording, monitoring and maintenance to enable higher-speed passenger operations. Complementary freight policy establishes distinct operational speed targets for empty and loaded freight trains and upgrades loading density on major freight routes to a higher axle load standard to maximise loading per train.