Railways to replace 8000 km track on trunk routes

Indian Railways will soon start its largest track renewal exercise, targeting the replacement of 8,000 km of old and depleted lines on trunk routes at an estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crore and overhauling the entire signalling network to improve safety, reports ET.
 
The renewal of the tracks will reduce the number of derailments by 50 per cent in a couple of years, hopes railways.
 
"This length of 8,000 km would be taken starting next financial year and we would wrap up the work by the end of FY20. These are the high-density tracks for Indian Railways. We're working towards an accident-free network," a top government official told ET. 
 
According to the report, Indian Railways on an average replaces 2500 km of old railway tracks every year. In the current fiscal it's renewing almost 3000 km. It has a total route network of 64,000 km. 
 
The Railway Ministry is also looking at bringing in advanced signalling systems to allow trains to operate at higher frequency even on busy routes. "A new signalling technology will soon be introduced in railways. It will be the biggest-ever technology upgrade," the official told ET. 
 
Indian Railways is seeking around Rs 15,000 crore from the Finance Ministry in the upcoming budget and is aiming to invest this fund for the renewal of tracks, repairing of old bridges, upgrading the signalling network and removing unmanned level crossings.