Railways mull replacing passenger trains with MEMU ones

The Railways is planning to replace its passengers trains with MEMU ones for regional connectivity in the golden quadrilateral as it is expected to reduce journey time and decongest high traffic routes, a senior official said Friday.

The Golden Quadrilateral, which connects Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, comprises the most congested routes on the rail network.

"With the introduction of the MEMU trains, services will be faster as these trains accelerate and de-accelerate at a higher speed. They typically run between 300 km to 500 km and will be used for short regional connectivity," said Member, Rolling Stock, Railway Board Rajesh Agarwal.

Passenger trains often serve as the only link between major junctions and small stations. They are usually fully unreserved, though there are a few such trains that have reserved coaches as well.

Fares on these trains are lower than fares on any other type of train, which makes them highly popular especially with passengers who cannot afford higher fares.

However, these trains usually average between 25 kmph and 40 kmph and are rarely high priority, often getting overtaken by faster trains during their journey.

The Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) is the Indian Railways' version of the commuter rail system in India and has a maximum speed of around 100 kmph averaging at around 50 kmph. 

These new trains will have two toilets in each coach and will be more safer and comfortable than passenger trains. 

Railways will produce around 1,200 new MEMU coaches to replace around 300 passenger trains in the golden quadrilateral and has set a target of producing around 6,000 new MEMU coaches in the next five years to completely free the routes from congestion, Agarwal said.