‘Rly tracks kept vacant for few hours every day for maintenance’

New Delhi: Railway tracks throughout the country are kept vacant for a few hours every day for maintenance keeping in mind the safety of train travel, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Vaishnaw said maintenance of railways is different from other infrastructure like highways.

He said since the tracks and wheels are made of steel and the trains are travelling at a speed of 70 to 100 km per hour, the tracks often get damaged, resulting in creation of micro fractures

“If we don’t repair the micro fractures regularly, there is a possibility of increased rail fractures which may lead to train accidents. That is why globally, out of 24 hours in a day, a few hours are kept for maintaining the tracks,” the Raillway Minister said.