79 pc of India’s railway tracks support speed above 110 kmph: Vaishnaw

New Delhi, Dec 18 Upgradation and improvement of railway tracks by Indian Railways over the last 11 years have increased the share of tracks with speed potential of 110 kmph and above to 79 per cent in November CY25 from 40 per cent in 2014, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Parliament on Thursday.

Upgradation and improvement of railway tracks on Indian Railways to increase the speed potential have been carried out in a big way during the last 11 years, Vaishnaw said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

The measures for track upgradation include use of 60 kg rails, wider base concrete sleepers, thick web switches, longer rail panels, H Beam sleepers, modern track renewal and maintenance machines, interlocking of level crossing gates, intense monitoring of track geometry, etc, he said.

A comparison of sectional speeds over 10 years shows a marked transformation with track under 110 kmph potential fell to 21.7 per cent of the network in 2025 from 60.4 per cent in 2014.

Further, tracks supporting 110–130 kmph speed rose to 57.5 per cent from 33.3 per cent, and the share of tracks with 130 kmph and above potential rose to 21.8 per cent from just 6.3 per cent.

The Parliament was also informed that network electrification on Indian Railways has been taken up in mission mode, and so far, about 99.2 per cent of the Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified.

The feat is far ahead of the UK (39 per cent), Russia (52 per cent), and China (82 per cent).

"Railway electrification achieved during the financial year 2023-24 and 2024-25 is 7,188 and 2,701 Route kilometres (RKM), respectively. Further, all new line/multi-tracking projects are being sanctioned and constructed with electrification," the minister said.

The existing BG network in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, and Mizoram in the northeastern region has been 100 per cent electrified.

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