Dedicated track, green channel plans for better local train ops
Times of India | 6 December 2025
Kolkata: Eastern Railway is planning ways to improve efficiency and punctuality of local trains, especially in the Howrah division, Milind Deouskar, GM, ER, said on Friday.
On the sidelines of an event by ICC's 3rd Rail India Forum in Kolkata, titled ‘Greening the rails, powering the nation', ER's GM said, "We are taking steps to improve punctuality of passenger trains, especially suburban locals." He mentioned setting up dedicated tracks for local trains so that office-goers from districts would reach workplaces in city on time.
"We are also prioritizing 200 suburban EMU trains (locals) which will be given a green channel no matter what. If a freight train is on the same track, the trains on the priority list will get a go-ahead signal," the GM said.
He said local train operations in the Sealdah division have been streamlined to a good extent. Now, AC services are available in the Sealdah division. "We have asked for five more AC rakes so that similar services can be introduced in the Howrah division," Deouskar said. Asked if the AC services would be run on the Howrah-Burdwan and Howrah-Bandel sections, he said, "Decisions will be taken only after extensive surveys."
Among other speakers were KoPT chairman Rathendra Raman, RVNL's chief project manager Vipin Kumar, Vikash Lohia, chairman, ICC national expert committee-Railway, Metro Railway officials Asim Majumdar (principal chief electrical engineer) and Manish Jain (principal chief safety officer).
Deouskar stressed the need for an integrated approach across freight strategy, energy systems, technology choices, and infrastructure, with a focus on locomotive reliability, diesel reduction, and metro-grade technologies. Raman spoke of shifting freight from road to rail and inland waterways for greener logistics. Kumar said Metro serves 15.6 million people amid a soaring vehicular registrations of 21.8 lakh in 2022 from 7.6 lakh in 2001.