Lok Sabha Question No. 4100 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-08-10
Subject: Rail Fractures
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: ANANDRAO  ADSUL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4100 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.08.2016

## RAIL FRACTURES

4100.  SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the increasing number of rail fractures are posing a threat to safety  of  train  operations  as  there  have  been  several  derailments  in  the past;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and whether the Railways has roped in the Indian  Institute  of  Technology,  Madras  to  develop  a  new  mechanism  to detect cracks on tracks and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)    whether the Railways is considering to put in place an automatic rail fracture detection system and if so, the details thereof;
- (d)    whether the Railways, in consultation with the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), has introduced broken rail warning system in the Northern Railway as a pilot project; and
- (e)     if so, the extent to which the broken rail warning system is effective to curb the derailments?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

- (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  4100  BY  SHRI  ANANDRAO  ADSUL  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN LOK SABHA ON 10.08.2016 REGARDING RAIL FRACTURES

(a) and (b) No, Madam. There is declining trend in rail weld fractures on Indian Railways  since the last three years and in current year also which is shown as under:

| Year                |   Rail fractures |   Weld fractures |   Total fractures |   %age reduction |
|---------------------|------------------|------------------|-------------------|------------------|
| 2013-14             |             2001 |             3189 |              5190 |               17 |
| 2014-15             |             1680 |             2530 |              4210 |               19 |
| 2015-16             |             1373 |             1791 |              3164 |               25 |
| 2016-17 (upto June) |              173 |              221 |               394 |                9 |

Besides this, consequential derailments attributed to rail weld fractures are also on declining trend which is shown as under:

| Year                |   Total No. of derailments |   Derailment due to rail fracture |   Derailment due to weld fractures |   Total no. of derailments due to rail weld fractures |
|---------------------|----------------------------|-----------------------------------|------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
| 2013-14             |                         53 |                                 7 |                                  6 |                                                    13 |
| 2014-15             |                         63 |                                 9 |                                  2 |                                                    11 |
| 2015-16             |                         65 |                                 8 |                                  0 |                                                     8 |
| 2016-17 (upto July) |                         28 |                                 4 |                                  0 |                                                     4 |

Indian  Railways  had  roped  in  the  Indian  Institute  of  Technology  (IIT), Madras to develop an improved system for ultrasonic testing of rails and welds to detect flaws. This developed system has not been found suitable for present field requirement.

(c)  to  (e)  It  has  been  decided  in  association  with  Research  Designs  & Standard Organisation (RDSO) to undertake trial of Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection  System  (UBRD)  to  detect  in  service  rail/weld  failures  on Northern  Railway  and  North  Central  Railway  over  25km  of  track  each. Orders for procurement and installation of the system have been placed recently and trials will commence soon.

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