Raipur: The railway department has announced a new timetable starting January 1, 2025, which will see 146 trains running under regular numbers. This includes 45 passenger trains, 81 MEMU trains, and 20 DEMU trains. According to information from the railway division, infrastructure improvements have been made across various sections, just like every year. This year, the Indian Railways will implement partial changes to the timetable, aimed at speeding up train operations and saving several hours of travel time. These adjustments will help save between 10 to 55 minutes for express trains and 5 to 20 minutes for passenger trains across different sections. The new timetable will also affect the operation times of trains at 131 stations in both directions on the South East Central Railway. For other stations, the timetable will remain unchanged. Officials have also mentioned that the Firozpur-Seoni-Firozpur Patalkot Express (train number 14624/14623) will be upgraded to superfast status starting March 1, 2025, along with changes to its numbers and schedule.
In addition, 6 kilometers of extra automatic signaling has been installed on the Sarona-Raipur double line section. The signaling and telecom department of the South East Central Railway has set a new record by commissioning over 100 kilometers of automatic signaling for the third consecutive year. Under the leadership of Chief Signal and Telecom Engineer S.K. Solanki, additional automatic signals have been set up, including three signals for the up line and three for the down line. Railway officials explained that this automatic signaling is based on electronic interlocking. Necessary changes have been made to the electronic interlocking and panel interlocking systems at Raipur station. To ensure accuracy, 36 detection points for multi-section digital axle counters and auto and standby video displays have also been installed to monitor the automatic signals. Engineer Solanki congratulated the team on this achievement.