Year after green light for circular train ops, plan yet to get on track

Time of India

02-07-2025

Mumbai: Circular Train Operations (CTO), a bold proposal to run long-distance trains in a circular loop without entering choked railway termini in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, and Danapur in Bihar to ease pressure on them, has been gathering dust since a year.
Conceived by former Mumbai divisional railway manager Rajnish Kumar Goyal, the proposal got in-principle approval from the railway board in 2024. It suggested piloting CTO on special trains, then scaling it up. However, zonal railways, including Central Railway (CR), have not operated even a single pilot train, citing lack of response from other zones.
A CR official said, "The experiment can be considered once the Panvel-Kalamboli coaching complex is ready, likely by 2026.
At that stage, we can begin with running special trains under the circular model, rather than incorporating them into the regular timetable."
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The idea involves re-routing inbound trains — say from Gorakhpur — via a loop: Manmad–Kalyan–Panvel–Lonavla–Pune–Daund–Manmad, bypassing Mumbai termini like Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). Passengers bound for Mumbai could alight at Kalyan and switch to suburban trains or road transport.
Similarly, Mumbai-origin trains to Gorakhpur, Danapur, or Chhapra would follow the circular route, optimising turnaround.
"This model requires no major infrastructure changes," said a railway board official. "Everyone wants more trains, but unless the existing model is altered, that's not feasible." At present, festival or holiday specials from North Indian towns like Samastipur, Danapur, and Chhapra terminate at LTT/CSMT and return within hours under return brake power certificate.
Despite minimal maintenance needs, they occupy platforms and stabling lines for three to seven hours — unsustainable in high-traffic hubs like Mumbai.
If CTO is implemented, rake utilisation would improve drastically. Currently, a rake covers 2,500–2,700km roundtrip, for example Danapur–Mumbai–Danapur. Under the circular model, it could run up to 4,000km—maximum permissible under brake power certificate norms for LHB coaches—without extra maintenance or re-validation.
The concept also avoids loco reversals at termini, freeing up locomotives currently held up for hours. "The idea is to convert rakes into moving assets. If trains avoid LTT or CSMT, there's no shunting, no advance platform berthing, and no cleaning delays," said a CR official.
CTO also addresses crowd management. Passengers often crowd LTT or CSMT hours before departure, straining facilities. With staggered boarding across multiple en route stations, terminals would see less rush.
Pantry operations too would benefit, with uninterrupted catering en route instead of stock transfer during turnaround.
But execution demands several tweaks: introducing circular trains in the passenger reservation system, adjusting onboard housekeeping service contracts, managing crew logistics, and public awareness drives. "There's no opposition to the idea, just no initiative. Everyone prefers to wait for a new terminal rather than improve operations," said a planner.
"CTO isn't just a train model — it's a mindset shift.
And that's harder than building new infrastructure."
"The key question remains: If railways can run hundreds of specials — holiday, election, or emergency — within days or even hours, why can't zonal railways coordinate to launch even one pilot CTO train with such high potential benefits?"