Context

The Indian Railways authorities have increased the maximum speed to 130 km per hour for operating trains on the 1,280 km long route out of the total 1,612 km long Golden Quadrilateral - Golden Diagonal (GQ-GD).

About

South Central Railway zone 

• The route covers the entire GQ-GD route over the South Central Railway zone, except the Vijayawada - Duvvada section, where a signaling up-gradation task is in progress.
• According to the approved plan of increasing the speed of trains to 130 km per hour, the South Central Railway zone will boost the maximum speed limits along the following routes:
  • Golden Diagonal (Grand Trunk) Route - 744 route km:
    • Ballarshah to Kazipet - 234 route km
    • Kazipet-Vijayawada-Gudur - 510 route km
  • Golden Quadrilateral Route (Chennai-Mumbai section) - 536 route km:
    • Renigunta to Gooty - 281 route km
    • Gooty to Wadi- 255 route km
  • The maximum speed limits in the High-Density Network (HDN) between Secunderabad – Kazipet (132 Km distance) had already been increased to 130 kph.
  • A total of 2,824 km of the track has been made fit to run at a speed of 130 kph.

Golden Quadrilateral  The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) project is a large-scale highway construction and improvement project. At 5,846 km, it is the largest highway project in India and the fifth-longest in the world. The project connects the four major metro cities namely Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.  The benefits of the GQ are: better movement of products and people more choice of locations for initiating industrial activity reduced wastage for the agriculture sector a decrease in vehicle operating costs and time