New Delhi, July 25 (IANS) Over 78 per cent of railway tracks in the country have now been upgraded for speeds of 110 kmph and above, with the improvement in the Indian Railways network carried out in a big way during the last 10 years, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed Parliament on Friday.

The minister said that the measures for track upgradation include the use of 60 kg rails, wider base concrete sleepers, thick web switches, longer rail panels, H Beam sleepers, modern track renewal and maintenance machines,

The track length for the highest speed potential of 130 km per hour & above has been increased more than 4-fold from 5,036 km in 2014 to 23,010 km in 2025, which forms 21.8 per cent of the total track length. Earlier, this high-speed section was only 6.3 per cent of the total length, the minister said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

Similarly, the track length for speeds of 110-130 km per hour has been more than doubled from 26,409 km in 2014 to 59,800 km in 2025, which now constitutes a significant 56.6 per cent of the total track network.

Correspondingly, the length of track where the speed of trains is less than 100 km per hour has been reduced from 47,897 track km to 22,862. While earlier trains had to slow down to less than 100 km per hour on 60.4 per cent of the track network, this has now been reduced to 21.6 per cent, he added.

Vaishnaw further stated that Vande Bharat trains presently running over the Indian Railway network are semi-high speed train services with a design speed of 180 kmph and a maximum operating speed of 160 kmph. The average speed of the train depends upon the geometry of the track, stoppages en route, and maintenance work in the section..

The first prototype of the Vande Bharat Sleeper train set has already been manufactured. Based on the extensive field trials and the experience gained therein, the first rake of the Vande Bharat sleeper train is undergoing commissioning, the minister added.

–IANS

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