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Indian Railways’ Safety Drive Picks Up Speed, Over 4,400 Km Of Tracks Underwent Upgrade In 2017-18
Indian railway workers perform track maintenance at a station in Kolkata. (DESHAKALYAN CHOWDHURY/AFP/Getty Images)
The Indian Railways upgraded tracks totaling over 4,400 km in 2017-18, Business Standard has reported. Tracks totaling around 640 km were renewed in March, the highest ever in a month, the report said.
According to the report, the pace of track renewal has gone up in the last seven month, since Piyush Goyal took charge of the ministry. He was appointed as the Railways Minister following a series of accidents in 2016-17.
The Railways has upgraded tracks totaling 2,075 km since January this year. It has also laid fresh tracks totaling 3,300 km, 700 km more than what was laid in 2016-17.
The pace of upgrade has gone up due to the “availability of rail since January this year,” a government official has said. The Railways has invited a Rs 20-billion tender for procuring rails from local and international manufacturers.
Because the process of upgradation includes replacement and strengthening of worn out tracks, the Railways has registered the worst punctuality in three years. Around 30 per cent of trains ran ate in 2017-18. The punctuality was 71.39 per cent in April-March 2017, down from 76.69 per cent in the same period in 2016.
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