Indian Railways (IR) carried out track renewal 54600 km for safe train operations from 2014- 2026 (upto February), said Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a reply to questions in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
| Year | Track renewal in kms |
| FY23-24 | 5950 |
| FY22-23 | 5227 |
| FY21-22 | 4275 |
| FY20-21 | 4363 |
| FY19-20 | 4500 |
| FY18-19 | 4181 |
| FY17-18 | 4023 |
| FY16-17 | 2487 |
| FY15-16 | 2794 |
| FY14-15 | 2424 |
Track Inspection procedure
Tracks on IR are inspected by designated railway men as per the laid down schedule. This includes daily patrolling, on-foot inspection, trolley inspection and foot plate/rear window inspection.
In addition, Track Recording Car (TRC) and Oscillation Monitoring System (OMS) runs are conducted at scheduled frequencies to assess the health of track geometry.
The entire IR network of Indian Railways is covered through TRC and OMS runs. Based on this, track renewal requirements are assayed and necessary action taken in a time bound manner to ensure safety on tracks.
Track upgradation
Strengthening, upgradation, modernisation and improvement of track infrastructure is a continuous and ongoing process over IR. The following measures are being taken to upgrade railway tracks:
i. Modern track structure consisting of 60kg, 90 Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) rails, Wider and heavier Pre-stressed Concrete Sleepers (PSC) with elastic fastening, fan-shaped layout turnout on PSC sleepers and H-beam Sleepers on girder bridges are being used while carrying out primary track renewals.
ii. The Thick Web Switches and Weldable CMS Crossings are being used in turnout renewal works.
iii. Supply of 260m long rail panels have been increased to avoid welding of joints, thereby improving safety and riding quality
iv. Thick Web Switch Expansion Joints are being used in place of earlier Conventional/Improved SEJs.
v. Adoption of better welding technology for rails i.e. Flash Butt Welding.
vi. Adoption of mechanized system for track maintenance using high output plain tampers and points & crossing tampers for improved maintainability & reliability of track.
vii. Deployment of state-of-the-art modern machines including Rail Grinding Machines to further improve asset reliability
viii. Mechanisation of track laying activities through use of track machines like PQRS, TRT, T-28 etc.
ix. Interlocking of Level Crossing (LC) Gates for enhancing safety at LC gates.
x. Use of advanced Phased Array technology of testing of rail and welds.
xi. Deployment of Integrated Track Monitoring Systems (ITMS) and Oscillation Monitoring System (OMS) for comprehensive health assessment to ascertain optimal maintenance requirements.
xii. Adoption of portable Track Measuring Trolley for continuous recording of track parameters in yards.
xiii. Using web enabled Track Management System (TMS) for integration and data analytics of the track inspection records received through various sources to enable precise maintenance inputs.
As a result of above measures, there has been significant increase in speed potential of the tracks. The details of maximum permissible speed (MPS) of railway tracks during 2014 vis-a-vis 2026 are as under:
| Section speed in kmph | Track km in 2014 | % of total | Track km in 2026 up to Feb | % of total |
| >130 | 5036 | 6.3 | 23713 | 22.4 |
| 110-130 | 26409 | 33.3 | 62036 | 58.7 |
| <130 | 47897 | 60.4 | 19923 | 18.9 |
| Total | 79342 | 100 | 105672 | 100 |
