Lok Sabha Question No. 1748 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Shortage of Trackmen
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Ramesh Chander Kaushik, Ajay Kumar Mandal

(a)

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1748

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2023

## SHORTAGE OF TRACKMEN

†1748  SHRI RAMESH CHANDER KAUSHIK: SHRI AJAY KUMAR MANDAL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the length (in kilometers) of railway tracks for which a trackman of Railways is responsible for maintenance;
- (b) the details of the Engineering Code pertaining to the maintenance of railway  tracks  and  whether  the  said  code  is  being  followed  by  the Engineering Department;
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d)  the  number  of  posts  of  trackmen  sanctioned,  lying  vacant  and deployed in East Central Railway and Eastern Railway at present;
- (e) whether the maintenance works of railway tracks is not being done properly  due  to  heavy  shortage  of  trackmen  and  other  maintenance employees in Indian Railways which increases the probability of accidents; and
- (f)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  corrective  steps  taken  by  the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a) TO (f) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1748 BY SHRI RAMESH CHANDER KAUSHIK AND SHRI AJAY KUMAR MANDAL TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 13.12.2023 REGARDING SHORTAGE OF TRACKMEN

- (a) to (f) On  Indian Railway network, regular  Track  Maintenance activities are done by Track machines and track maintainers.

Guidelines  for  Maintenance  of  railway  track  are  covered  in  Indian Railway  Permanent  Way  Manual  (IRPWM),  which  is  being  followed  by Engineering Department.

Occurrence and filling up of vacancies is a continuous process on Indian Railways  considering  its  size,  spatial  distribution and  criticality of operation. The vacancies are filled up primarily by placement of indents by Railways with recruitment agencies as per operational requirements. During last five years (i.e. 2018-2019 to 2022-2023) and current year (i.e. 2023-2024 upto 30.09.2023), 284060 (Provisional) candidates have been empanelled  against  various  Group  'C'  posts  (including  Level  1)  which includes  11916  (Provisional)  candidates  for  East  Central  Railway  and 18295  (Provisional)  candidates  for  Eastern  Railway  including  track maintainers.

Consequential train accidents have declined over the years, as shown by the graph below:-

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The average number of consequential train accidents during  the period, 2004-14 was 171 per annum, while the average number of consequential train accidents during the period 2014-23 has declined to 71 per annum.

Safety is accorded the highest priority by Indian Railways. The following measures have been taken by the Government to enhance safety in train operations:

1. Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) has been introduced in 201718  for  replacement/renewal/upgradation  of  critical  safety  assets, with  a  corpus  of  Rs.  1  lakh  crore  for  five  years.  From  2017-18  till 2021-22, Gross expenditure of Rs. 1.08 lakh crore was incurred on RRSK works. In 2022-23, the Govt. extended the currency of RRSK for another period of five years with Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs. 45,000 crores.
2. Electrical/Electronic Interlocking Systems with centralized operation of points and signals have been provided at 6498 stations upto 31.10.2023 to eliminate accident due to human failure.
3. Interlocking  of  Level  Crossing  (LC)  Gates  has  been  provided  at 11137 level Crossing Gates up to 31.10.2023 for enhancing safety at LC gates.
4. Complete Track Circuiting of stations to enhance  safety for verification  of  track  occupancy  by  electrical  means  has  been provided at 6548 stations upto 31.10.2023.
5. Detailed instructions on issues related with safety of Signalling e.g. mandatory correspondence check, alteration work protocol, preparation of completion drawing, etc. have been issued.
6. System  of  disconnection  and  reconnection  for  S&T  equipment  as per protocol has been re-emphasized.
7. All locomotives are equipped with Vigilance Control Devices (VCD)
8. to ensure alertness of Loco Pilots.
8. Retro-reflective  sigma  boards  are  provided  on  the  mast  which  is located two OHE masts prior to the signals in electrified territories to warn the crew about the signal ahead when visibility is low due to foggy weather.
9. A GPS based Fog Safety Device (FSD) is provided to loco pilots in fog affected areas which enables loco pilots to know the distance of the approaching landmarks like signals, level crossing gates etc.
10. Modern  track  structure  consisting  of  60kg,  90  Ultimate  Tensile Strength (UTS) rails, Prestressed Concrete Sleeper (PSC) Normal/Wide base sleepers with elastic fastening, fanshaped layout turnout on PSC sleepers, Steel Channel/H-beam Sleepers on girder bridges is used while carrying out primary track renewals.
11. Mechanisation of track laying activity through use of track machines like PQRS, TRT, T-28 etc to reduce human errors.
12. Maximizing  supply  of  130m/260m  long  rail  panels  for  increasing progress  of  rail  renewal  and  avoiding  welding  of  joints,  thereby ensuring safety.
14. Laying  of  longer  rails,  minimizing  the  use  of  Alumino  Thermic Welding and adoption of better welding technology for rails i.e. Flash
13. Butt Welding.
14. Monitoring of track geometry by OMS  (Oscillation Monitoring System) and TRC (Track Recording Cars).
17. 15.
18. Patrolling of railway tracks to look out for weld/rail fractures.
16. The  use  of  Thick  Web  Switches  and  Weldable  CMS  Crossing  in turnout renewal works.
17. Inspections  at  regular  intervals  are  carried  out  to  monitor  and educate staff for observance of safe practices.
18. Web  based  online  monitoring  system  of  track  assets  viz.  Track database and decision support system has been adopted to decide rationalized maintenance requirement and optimize inputs.
19. Detailed  instructions  on  issues  related  with  safety  of  Track  e.g. integrated block, corridor block, worksite safety, monsoon precautions etc. have been issued.
20. Preventive  maintenance  of  railway  assets  (Coaches  &  Wagons)  is undertaken to ensure safe train operations and to keep a check on Rail Accidents across the country.
21. Replacement of conventional ICF design coaches with LHB design coaches is being done.
22. All  unmanned level  crossings  (UMLCs)  on  Broad  Gauge  (BG)  route have been eliminated by January 2019.
23. Safety of Railway Bridges is ensured through regular inspection of Bridges. The requirement of repair/rehabilitation of Bridges is taken up based upon the conditions assessed during these inspections.
24. Indian Railways has displayed Statutory 'Fire Notices' for widespread passenger information in all coaches. Fire posters are provided  in  every  coach  so  as  to  inform  and  alert  passengers regarding  various  Do's  and  Don'ts  to  prevent  fire.  These  include messages regarding not carrying any inflammable material, explosives,  prohibition  of  smoking  inside  the  coaches,  penalties
28. etc.
25. Production  Units  are  providing  Fire  detection  and  suppression system  in  newly  manufactured  Power  Cars  and  Pantry  Cars,  Fire and  Smoke  detection  system  in  newly  manufactured  coaches. Progressive  fitment of the same  in  existing coaches  is  also underway by Zonal Railways in a phased manner.
26. Regular counselling and training of staff is undertaken.
27.  Concept of Rolling Block introduced in Indian Railways (Open Lines) General Rules vide Gazette  notification dated 30.11.2023, wherein work of maintenance/repair/replacement is planned for 52 weeks in advance on rolling basis and executed as per plan.

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