Travel Time Between New Delhi And Howrah To Be Cut To 12 Hours As Tundla Junction Gets Electronic Interlocking System

The travel time between Delhi and Howrah is set to be reduced to about 12 hours from the existing 17-19 hours with the installation of ‘Most advanced Electronic Interlocking System’ in place of the existing mechanically interlocked signalling system, a press release by the government said.

The system has been installed at the Tundla Junction on the Grand Chord route which is a part of the Howrah-Gaya-Delhi line and Howrah-Allahabad-Mumbai line.

The Tundla Junction is an important station on this super-saturated route and has been operating at 160 per cent of its designed capacity. Tundla also connects mainline with Agra Cantt Junction.

The Electronic Interlocking work at Tundla Junction was having 613 route combinations which is only second to Kharagpur in South Eastern Railway with 800 routes.

Despite being extremely important from a train operation point of view, Tundla Junction was still continuing with the mechanically interlocked signalling system of 1955 vintage.

Around 500 persons worked day and night without break from 2 September, 2019 to 20 October, 2019 to execute this complex and challenging work in minimum possible time and with minimum inconvenience to the public, the release said.

The new system will also go a long way in improving punctuality of trains on New Delhi- Howrah mainline among other benefits.