IRCTC Latest News: Once the coronavirus situation stabilises in the country, the Indian Railways plans to introduce a new ‘zero-based’ timetable which will help cut down travel time of long-distance trains by at least 30 minutes to six hours on average. This was last week announced by Railway Board Chairman and CEO VK Yadav.
The revised timetable by the Indian Railways is based on the premise that the existence of every train and stoppage must be justified based on goals of providing transportation with “optimum and efficient utilisation of the available resources”.
He said that the timetable by the Indian Railways is likely to be introduced by the national transporter once the coronavirus situation becomes normal in the country.
Why is the Railways planning to make such timetable? Yadav had said the new timetable will increase the occupancy of “poorly-patronised” trains and also will reduce waitlisting in those trains which are in high demand.
Experts close to Railways are of opinion that the national transporter will generate around Rs 8,000 crore per year through savings and earnings after the time-table is implemented. As per the new timetable, around 600 trains with traditionally low passenger ration will be taken off the system, while 400 trains will be either merged or upgraded.
Part from this, the railways is also planning to “rationalise stoppages” for optimum efficiency and for this, around 10,000 stoppages could be done away with as part of the plan.