The Indian Railways has changed the classification of high-speed trains by increasing the maximum speed limit to more than 130 kmph. However, the norm for levying superfast surcharge on passengers remains at 55 kmph on broad gauge and 45 kmph on meter gauge trains.
The Railway Board, in a recent order to general managers of all zonal railways, said, “Trains with maximum permissible speed up to 130 kmph shall not be treated as ‘high speed’. Only trains having maximum permissible speed of more than 130 kmph shall be treated as ‘high-speed’ trains.”
The board was responding to queries raised by different zonal railways on the need to revise the definition of ‘high-speed’ trains with the proposed increase in speed up to 130 kmph of a majority of trains due to the proliferation of Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) rakes.
The deployment of co-drivers or co-locopilots on ‘high-speed’ trains was also flagged.
After the issue was examined by a team comprising the Chairman, Railway Board; member, Traction & Rolling Stock; member, Operations & Business Development; and others, it was decided that no co-locopilot needs to be deployed on trains having speed up to 130 kmph.
However, a duly qualified assistant locopilot (ALP) could be deployed for these trains. Such ALPs should be sufficiently experienced and capable of attending failures en route, and in the event of the locopilot getting immobile/incapacitated, he should take the train to the nearest station.
In the new scheme that would be implemented on an experimental basis for a period of six months, the board said the co-locopilots could be deployed on all trains having a speed of more than 130 kmph irrespective of continuous driving duty, minimum distance between terminals, average speed of the train, length of route, etc.
This arrangement of redefining ‘high-speed’ trains and deploying co-locopilots comes months after the Ministry of Railways decided to raise the speed of trains to 130 kmph along the Golden Quadrilateral and Diagonals routes. In June 2019, the board directed that the sectional speed on the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah route be enhanced to 130 kmph, with the approval of the Commissioner of Railway Safety.
On other routes (Howrah-Chennai, Chennai-Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai and Howrah-Mumbai), the increased speed was planned by 2020-21. These routes, running over a stretch of 9,100 km, constitute a sizable volume of passenger and freight traffic in the railway network, sources in the Railways said.
Superfast surcharge
However, despite the fact that a majority of trains are running on double-line BG and electrified routes with LHB rakes, the criterion to levy superfast surcharge remains at an average of 55 kmph on the BG routes, the sources said.
In a note issued in 2007, the Railways said if the average speed of a train is minimum 55 kmph on BG and 45 kmph on MG, it would be treated as a Superfast Train for the purpose of levying superfast surcharge. The average speed is calculated by dividing the end-to-end distance by the total journey time.
The superfast surcharge on trains varies between ₹50 per passenger in AC First Class and ₹20 in Sleeper Class. Superfast surcharge is also levied on season ticket holders on monthly or quarterly basis, the sources added.
