In the past decade, Indian Railways has undertaken large-scale track construction activities with the aim of increasing its network capacity. In addition to setting up new track lines, significant progress has been made on gauge conversion, multi-tracking, doubling, tripling and quadrupling of the rail network. The average rate of track completion has grown by 89 per cent from the period 2009-14 to 2014-23. A total track length of 25,871 km has been commissioned from 2014 to 2023. Of this, 5,749 km accounts for gauge conversion and 14,377 km is under the doubling section.
A noteworthy growth of 345 per cent has been observed in the completion of track doubling during 2014-23 over 2009-14. Indian Railways has commissioned doubling sections at the rate of 1,593 km per year during 2014-23 as compared to 375 km per year during 2009-14. Besides, it has surveyed 451 projects for multi-tracking with a length of 27,956 km as of December 6, 2023.
It proposed a big-ticket multi-tracking project of Rs 4,200 billion in October 2023 on seven high-density railway corridors that have surpassed their traffic-carrying capacity. These corridors are from Delhi to Howrah, Mumbai to Howrah, Delhi to Mumbai, Delhi to Guwahati, Delhi to Chennai, Howrah to Chennai and Mumbai to Chennai. The project will involve the doubling and laying of third and fourth lines on different stretches of these corridors. This will be carried out based on their traffic demand and is targeted to be completed by 2034. The initiative will enable faster passenger and freight movement across the country.
Key emerging trends
A few prominent trends that have emerged include an increase in the pace of track construction, improvement in the quality of construction and efficiency of operations, and optimisation of maintenance works.
New track laying equipment and machines
The large-scale construction of tracks requires efficient mechanisation of construction activities. Indian Railways has been successful in achieving 1 km per day rate of track construction with the deployment of new track construction (NTC) machines. These have been deployed by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India for laying tracks for the recently launched eastern dedicated freight corridor (DFC), and are also being deployed in the western DFC.
Similarly, the indigenous technology of full-span launching equipment introduced in 2022 is being used as a straddle carrier and girder transporter. Its use has been helpful in speeding up the construction of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Corridor project. In November 2023, 100 km of viaducts were constructed with 40 metre long full-span box girders and segmental girders utilising this equipment. Moreover, the use of track machines such as plasser quick relaying systems and track renewal trains is contributing to the mechanisation process while reducing human errors.
Upgradation of rails
The upgradation of tracks with high-strength rails of R-350HT grade is also in the pipeline. These rails are capable of carrying 25 tonnes of axle loads at a speed of 100 km per hour. Additionally, longer rails are being laid by maximising the supply of 130/260 metre long rail panels. These panels help in minimising the use of aluminothermic welding and maintaining safety.
In a related development, better welding technologies such as flash butt welding are being used in rails. Long welded panels without joints (end to end) have been initiated by the railways for long stretches to improve railroad crossings. In other cases, joints with welded cast, welded crossings, improved web switches or thick switches, and canted turnouts are being used. These help in achieving a speed of 50 km per hour on the divergent lines. They also reduce the need for maintenance of these lines. Further, ultrasonic floor detection of rails is being developed. This technology detects flaws in rails through ultrasonic waves of 2-4 MHz. These waves are received back from the rail by a small piece of electric crystal fitted in the probe that moves over the rail and helps predict any incipient flaws in them. In November 2023, Eastern Railway’s Sealdah division introduced this technology to improve the safety of its rail infrastructure.
Focus on track modernisation
The track structure is also being modernised with the use of prestressed concrete (PSC) sleeper and normal/wide base sleepers with elastic fastening. Fan-shaped layout turnout on PSC sleepers and steel channel sleepers on girder bridges are being used for renewal of primary tracks. The use of drones and smart sensors is also gaining traction in the inspection of railway tracks. This is further complemented by the use of artificial intelligence-based inspection of railway tracks which is expected to help in the predictive maintenance of tracks. Indian Railways plans to introduce this method by 2025-26.
Uptake of ballastless tracks
Among other important feats that have been achieved in track development of high speed rail is the construction of ballastless tracks. In September 2023, National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited started the construction of these tracks under the MAHSR Corridor project worth Rs 1,080 billion. This project witnessed the construction of the first J-slab ballastless track system in India. Further, a dedicated fast railway trial track of 60 km length costing Rs 8.2 billion is planned to be established for the first time in India by
October 2024. The work on this track of the Jodhpur division is already under way in Nawan, Rajasthan. It is being constructed based on international standards adopted by developed countries such as America, Australia and Germany.
Challenges
Track construction activity faces several challenges such as land acquisition along with shifting of infringing utilities, forest clearances, cost sharing between the centre and states, statutory clearances from various authorities, and geological and topographical conditions of the area. More recently, higher attention is being paid to the modernisation and digitalisation of traction activities; however, a lack of expertise and competence becomes a hurdle in the process. The sector also faces the problem of lack of skilled manpower that can operate advanced machineries and equipment on construction sites.
The way forward
As the railway sector progresses ahead, Indian Railways intends to decongest the railway infrastructure by 51 per cent by 2024-25. It aims to increase its modal share to 45 per cent by 2030 which would be supported by advancements in track construction. It further plans to add 50,000 km of track length to its network by 2028 and increase the current rate of track construction from 5,000 km per annum to 10,000 km in the next two to three years. Its target for daily track construction has also been increased from 14 km per day in 2022-23 to 16 km per day in 2023-24. As per the National Rail Plan, Indian Railways aims to create capacity ahead of the projected demand by 2030. The objective is to develop capacity with minimum capital investment and accommodate not only periodic demand peaks but also year-on-year growth in traffic demand. These targets would also be fuelled by the plans outlined in the interim budget 2024-25 such as the development of commodity-specific economic rail corridors and high-traffic density corridors.
Shubhangi Goswami