Indian Railways (IR) is doing deep screening of ballast for maintaining railway tracks. Stone chips placed below the sleepers of a railway track are called ballast. [ They are used to distribute the load to the earth work, keep the track stable and drain water on tracks].
Deep screening using ballast cleaning track machines (BCM) improves resilience stability and drainage of tracks with minimal manual intervention.
The progress of deep screening has been increasing with every passing year and is as follows:
IR, since 2021 changed its criteria for deep screening from age basis to condition basis (clean ballast cushion-based criterion).
As per the revised norms, deep screening of main-line track is scheduled when the clean ballast cushion reduces below 200 mm. Mechanised capacity has also been significantly strengthened with the induction of 65 BCMs, including HOBCMs (high output BCM) during the last five years which has enhanced the overall capacity of IR for deep screening.
Detailed guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) have been issued to improve the efficacy of deep screening.
Improvements in operational planning, including advance arrangement of ballast, tools, equipment, and trained manpower along with better sequencing and scheduling have led to faster execution and better utilisation of resources.
Special priority has also been accorded to points and crossings, considering their operational sensitivity. Special guidelines and a Joint Procedure Order (JPO) have been issued to facilitate safe and coordinated execution at these locations.
The transition from an age-based to a condition-based deep screening approach supported by enhanced mechanisation and structured implementation procedures have significantly improved the pace, efficiency and quality of deep screening.
Asset failure
IR operates about 25,000 trains daily and the asset failure incidences are only about two percent. These include failures related to locos, overhead equipment (OHE), rolling stock (carriage and wagon) and signals.
Of this, IR has improved diesel Loco reliability by adopting these best practices as follows:
- Provision of Remote monitoring and Management of Locomotives and Trains (REMMLOT) in diesel locomotives.
2. Deployment of Prompt Response Team across India for quick resolution of problems in WDG4G/6G locomotives.
3.Improvement of maintenance periodicity of components such as Computer controlled Brake system for better reliability
Overhead equipment (OHE) failure reduction
OHE failure reduction has been achieved continuously in the last two years by adopting the following good practices such as
1.Survey for identification of trees along the track, which could be potential for OHE failure and their trimming/cutting.
2.Frequent cleaning of insulators in polluted areas.
3.To minimise the impact of changes in weather, ensuring free movement and adjustment of
parameters of Auto Tensioning Devices (ATD) in every season.
4. Special drive to check crossover and turnouts, OHE parameters and its adjustment.
5. Regular counselling sessions at the depot level to reinforce adherence to prescribed maintenance practices.
6. Cross audits of maintenance depots by other depots for identification of deficiencies and gaps with reference to standard practices.
7. Regular training for maintenance personnel.
8. Timely replacement of old assets and replacement on condition basis of catenary and contact wire.
9.Identification of broken and flashed insulators and their replacement in special drive
This information was provided by Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a reply to questions in the Lok Sabha on March 12,2026.
