Lok Sabha Question No. 490 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-23
Subject: Trains Speed in North-Western Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Hanuman Beniwal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 490 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.07.2025

## TRAINS SPEED IN NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAYS

## †490.     SHRI HANUMAN BENIWAL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the names of the locations between which the work related to doubling and electrification of railway tracks has been completed in North-Western railways during the last year and the current year alongwith the details of the expenditure incurred on such works;
- (b) whether  the  speed  of  trains  has  not  increased  despite  doubling and electrification of railway lines in North-Western railways;
- (c) if so, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the speed of 90% of trains have been reduced in Jodhpur division despite doubling and electrification of railway line there;
- (e) if so, the reasons therefor;
- (f) whether  the  Government  proposes  the  doubling  of  railway  line from Merta Road in Nagaur to Bikaner via Nagaur; and
- (g) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

## ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (g): Doubling  project  commissioned   in   North  Western  Railway

## during Financial Year 2024-25 and 2025-26 are as under:

|   S.No. | Project                        |   Length (in Km) | Commissioned Section     |   Cost of project (₹ In cr.) |
|---------|--------------------------------|------------------|--------------------------|------------------------------|
|       1 | Phulera-Degana Doubling        |              108 | Project Completed        |                          836 |
|       2 | Churu-Ratangarh Doubling       |               46 | Project Completed        |                          354 |
|       3 | Manheru-Bhawani Khera Doubling |               32 | Manheru- Bhiwani (14 Km) |                          144 |

## Details of sections electrified during Financial Year 2024-25 and 202526 are as under:

|   S.No. | Project                  |   Length (in Km) |   Cost (₹ In Cr.) |
|---------|--------------------------|------------------|-------------------|
|       1 | Sarupsar-Anupgarh        |               71 |                45 |
|       2 | Makrana-Phulera          |              148 |                94 |
|       3 | Thaiyat Hamira-Sanu      |               66 |                24 |
|       4 | Bechhiwara-Himmatnagar   |               81 |                56 |
|       5 | Jaisalmer-Ashapura Gomat |              125 |                70 |
|       6 | Ratangarh-Molisar        |               23 |                17 |
|       7 | Molisar-Churu            |               35 |                42 |
|       8 | Manheru-Bhiwani          |               14 |                15 |

Speeding up of train services is an on-going process on Indian Railways (IR)  and  is  dependent  on  various  factors  like  Maximum  Permissible speed  (MPS)  of  the  sections,  the  gradient  of  the  sections  enroute, speed potential of rolling stock/Loco, availability of path, maintenance corridor  blocks,  permanent  and   temporary   speed     restrictions, signaling system, etc. To optimally utilize the resources, train services on IR are charted at Maximum Permissible Speed keeping in view the speed potential of Rolling Stock.

Upgradation  and  improvement  of  track  infrastructure  is  a  continuous and ongoing process. The various measures have been taken for this purpose as under:

- (i) Using modern track components consisting of 60 kg, 90 Ultimate Tensile  Strength  (UTS)  rails,  Wider  base  Pre-stressed  Concrete Sleeper (PSC) with modern elastic fastenings.
- (ii) Laying of  fan-shaped turnouts on PSC sleepers with Thick Web Switches and Weldable CMS Crossings.
- (iii) Providing Steel Channel and H-beam Sleepers on girder bridges.
- (iv) Using 260 m long rail panels for rail renewals to minimize weldjoints.
- (v) Adoption of Thick Web Switch Expansion Joint (TWSEJ) in place of conventional Switch Expansion Joint (SEJ).
- (vi) Field-welding  by  mobile  Flash  Butt  Welding  Plant  in  place  of
- conventional Thermit welds.

- (vii) Use  of  advanced  USFD  testing  technique  of  rail  and  welds  by Phased Array technology.
- (viii) Mechanization in track renewal/ replacement using Track Relaying  Trains,  Points  &  Crossing  Changing  machines,  Track Laying Equipment etc.
- (ix) Deployment of Integrated Track Monitoring Systems (ITMS) and Oscillation  Monitoring  System  (OMS)  for  comprehensive  health assessment to ascertain optimal maintenance requirements.
- (x) Induction  of  advance  modern  machines  for  track  maintenance i.e., high output tampers, high output Ballast Cleaning Machines and Rail Grinding Machines etc.
- (xi) Adopting Self-propelled Ultrasonic Rail Testing Car (SPURT) and Rail-Cum-Road Vehicle (RCRV) based USFD system for testing of rails/welds.
- (xii) Adoption  of  portable  Track  Measuring  Trolley  for  continuous recording of track parameters in yards.
- (xiii) Using web enabled Track Management System (TMS) for integration  and  data  analytics  of  the  track  inspection  records received through various sources to enable precise maintenance inputs.

As a consequence of above measures, the details of upgraded railway tracks  with  speed  potential  of  110  kmph  and  130  kmph  over  Indian Railways from 2014 to 2025 (till now) are as under:

|   Track length with speed potential of 110 kmph and above | Track length with speed potential of 110 kmph and above   |
|-----------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|
|                                                      2014 | ~ 31,000 km                                               |
|                                                      2025 | ~ 83,000 km (2.7 times)                                   |

|   Track length with speed potential of 130 kmph | Track length with speed potential of 130 kmph   |
|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
|                                            2014 | ~ 5,000 km                                      |
|                                            2025 | ~ 23,000 km (4.6 times)                         |

In Jodhpur division, the following sections have been upgraded to 110 kmph as a result of above track upgradation measures:

|   S.No. | Section             |   Stretch (km) |
|---------|---------------------|----------------|
|       1 | Rai ka Bagh-Phalodi |            134 |
|       2 | Jodhpur-Phulera     |            260 |
|       3 | Luni-Barmer         |            180 |
|       4 | Merta Road-Bikaner  |            150 |

Final Location Survey for doubling of Merta Road - Bikaner rail line (173 Km)  has  been  sanctioned  for  preparation  of  Detailed  Project  Report (DPR).

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