Bandel local every 6 minutes

In today’s budget, the railway minister may announce populist projects with an eye on the coming elections. If you think that is bad, what is comforting is that during his tenure Lalu Prasad Yadav has done many good things as well.

He famously said once a cow half milked is a liability for all. The Indian Rail is a behemoth, a huge entity that has limbs spread in all parts of the country.

Over the years the assets of the railway rather proved to be constant drains from its earnings. As a result every railway budget used to ask for doles from the union government.

Lalu Prasad Yadav not only stopped that, he turned the sick railways into making profits. He simply put the assets of the railway into their optimum use. Of course he was aided by some smart brains.

And now for the first time in living memory there will be sincere attempts to correct the schedules of local trains from Howrah. See the report below taken from ABP’s Feb 21 issue.

According to the plan, instead of 13 destinations in the Howrah division, the trains will ply on 6 of them only. They are Howrah to Bandel, Howrah to Bardhaman (Chord), Bandel to Bardhaman, Bandel to Katwa, Bandel to Naihati, and Sheoraphuli to Tarakeswar.

This means Bandel will become a hub and all other destinations will rather be spokes. This plan will simplify the entire running schedule as can be seen in the graphics.

For example, Howrah to Bandel locals will run every 6 minutes, totaling 144 pairs every day instead of 107 pairs now. Similarly, average frequency of trains from Howrah to Bardhaman Chord will reduce to 30 minutes from the present 69, while the numbers of trains will more than double from 21 to 48.

When the plan comes into effect, Howrah will operate trains to only 2 destinations – Bandel and Bardhaman Chord. This means less need for platforms – 3 in place of 7 now.

There are plans to make these platforms double-discharging at Howrah, meaning passengers can get in and out from both sides. This is what you get to see at Central Railway’s CST, Mumbai, and also at 1, 4, and 4A at Sealdah Main.