55-kmph benchmark to classify trains as ‘superfast’ quite ‘low’, says CAG report

The 55-kmph benchmark is quite “low” for classifying trains as “superfast”, the CAG has said while highlighting that many such trains run below the minimum speed. In May 2007, the Indian Railway decided that if the average speed of a train, in both up and down directions, is a minimum of 55 kmph on broad gauge and 45 kmph on metre gauge, it would be treated as a ‘superfast’.

In November last year, the Railways had stated the extant policy for categorisation of services into ‘superfast’ stipulates that such trains should have an average end-to-end speed of above 55 kmph.