Railway tracks being kept vacant for a few hours every day for track maintenance, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament in New Delhi on March 19, 2025.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday (March 19, 2025) said Railway tracks throughout the country are being kept vacant for a few hours every day to ensure proper maintenance of tracks.

Since the tracks and wheels are made of steel and the trains are travelling at a speed of 70 to 100 km per hour, the tracks often get damaged, resulting in creation of micro fractures, the Minister said in the Lok Sabha.

“If we don’t repair the micro fractures regularly, there is a possibility of increased rail fractures which may lead to train accidents. That is why globally, out of 24 hours in a day, a few hours are kept for maintaining the tracks,” he said.

“This was the reason why some train stoppages were done away and some trains are being regulated. This has nothing to do with the COVID pandemic,” he said replying to a question by Congress MP K.C. Venugopal who had asked if the government was restarting train stoppages done away with during the pandemic.

Mr. Vaishnaw said that a “tough decision” had been taken in 2018 after IIT Bombay carried out a detailed study and the time table was made in a way that three hours are kept for maintenance.

“Its result has also come. It was a good result. Once there were 2,500 rail fractures which has come down to less than 250 now due to proper maintenance of the tracks,” he said without specifying the time period.