New Delhi, December 18 (IANS). Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told Parliament on Thursday that due to the upgradation and improvement of railway tracks by Indian Railways in the last 11 years, the share of tracks with speed of 110 km per hour and above has increased from 40 percent in 2014 to 79 percent by November 2025.
The Union Minister, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, said that to increase the speed in Indian Railways, the work of upgradation and improvement of railway tracks has been done on a large scale in the last 11 years.
He said the track upgradation measures include 60 kg rails, wide base concrete sleepers, thick web switches, longer rail panels, H beam sleepers, modern track renewal and maintenance machines, interlocking of level crossing gates, intensive monitoring of track geometry etc.
A comparison of sectional speeds over 10 years shows a stark change, with tracks with speeds below 110 km/h falling from 60.4 per cent in 2014 to 21.7 per cent of the network in 2025.
Additionally, the share of tracks supporting speeds of 110-130 kmph increased from 33.3 percent to 57.5 percent, and the share of tracks supporting speeds of 130 kmph and above increased from just 6.3 percent to 21.8 percent.
Parliament was also informed that network electrification on Indian Railways has been done in mission mode, and so far, about 99.2 per cent of the broad gauge network has been electrified.
This achievement is far ahead of the UK (39 percent), Russia (52 percent), and China (82 percent).
“Railway electrification has been achieved in 7,188 and 2,701 route kilometers during the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 respectively. Additionally, all new line/multi-tracking projects are being sanctioned and built with electrification,” the minister said.
In the North Eastern region, 100 per cent electrification of the existing broad gauge network in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Mizoram has been achieved.
–IANS
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