Parliament Question: Average Speed of Trains across Country

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 796 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.02.2026 AVERAGE SPEED OF TRAINS ACROSS COUNTRY †796. SHRI KULDEEP INDORA: SHRI LALJI VERMA: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the reasons for the lack of any significant increase in the average speed of passenger and express trains across the country in recent years, despite the operation of semi-high-speed trains, such as the Vande Bharat Express; (b) the reasons for reduction in speed despite repeated announcements regarding the modernization of tracks, signalling and rolling stock; (c) whether the Government has assessed the reasons such as track congestion/condition, delay in maintenance, infrastructure related challenges, difficult terrains, seasonal impacts and safety related restrictions that limit the average speed; (d) the steps being taken to modernise the railway infrastructure to achieve the projected operating speed of 160 km per hour for Vande Bharat trains/semi-high speed/high speed rail service on major routes; (e) the timeline and strategy for running Vande Bharat trains on new routes to ensure their expected speed; (f) the time limit set for achieving higher average speed for trains under PM Gati Shakti and Mission Raftaar; and (g) whether the Government is considering to run Vande Bharat train from Ayodhya to Delhi via Akbarpur (Ambedkar Nagar), if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (g) Upgradation and improvement of railway tracks on Indian Railways to increase the speed potential have been carried out in a big wayduring last 11 years. Improvement of track infrastructure is a continuous and ongoing process over Indian Railways. The following measures are being taken by Indian Railways to upgrade railway tracks: i. Modern track structure consisting of 60kg, 90 Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) rails, Wider and heavier Pre-stressed Concrete Sleepers (PSC) with elastic fastening, fan-shaped layout turnout on PSC sleepers and H-beam Sleepers on girder bridges are being used while carrying out primary track renewals. ii. The Thick Web Switches and Weldable CMS Crossings are being used in turnout renewal works. iii. Supply of 260m long rail panels have been increased to avoid welding of joints, thereby improving safety. iv. Thick Web Switch Expansion Joints are being used in place of earlier Conventional/Improved SEJs. v. Adoption of better welding technology for rails i.e. Flash Butt Welding. vi. Adoption of mechanized system for track maintenance using high output plain tampers and points & crossing tampers for improved maintainability & reliability of track. vii. Deployment of state-of-the-art modern machines including Rail Grinding Machines to further improve asset reliability. viii. Mechanisation of track laying activities through use of track machines like PQRS, TRT, T-28 etc. ix. Use of advanced Phased Array technology of testing of rail and welds. x. Deployment of Integrated Track Monitoring Systems (ITMS) and Oscillation Monitoring System (OMS) for comprehensive health assessment to ascertain optimal maintenance requirements. xi. Adoption of portable Track Measuring Trolley for continuous recording of track parameters in yards.xii. Using web enabled Track Management System (TMS) for integration and data analytics of the track inspection records received through various sources to enable precise maintenance inputs. xiii. Electrical/Electronic Interlocking Systems with centralized operation of points and signals in place of old mechanical signalling have been provided at 6660 stations as on 31.12.2025. xiv. Interlocking of Level Crossing Gates (LC) has been provided at 10097 Level Crossing Gates upto 31.12.2025 for enhancing safety at LC Gate. xv. Axle counters for automatic clearance of Block Section, BPAC (Block Proving Axle Counter) are provided to ensure complete arrival of train without manual intervention before granting line clear to receive next train and to reduce human element. These systems have been provided on 6142 Block Sections up to 31.12.2025. xvi. Automatic Block Signalling (ABS) that enhances line capacity within existing track infrastructure has been provided at 6625 Route km upto 31.12.2025. xvii. Indian Railways has also gone for implementation of indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system which required safety certification of highest order. Kavach has also been adopted as a National AT system in July 2020. After extensive and elaborate trials, Kavach version 4.0 has been successfully commissioned on 1297 Route Kilometres, covering the high density Delhi - Mumbai and Delhi - Howrah routes. On the Delhi - Mumbai route Kavach ver 4.0 has been commissioned on Junction cabin - Palwal - Mathura - Nagda section (667 Rkm) & Ahmedabad - Vadodara - Virar section (432 Rkm) and on the Delhi - Howrah route on Gaya - Saramatan (93 Rkm) and Bardhaman - Howrah section (105 Rkm). As a result of above measures, there has been significant increase inspeed potential of the tracks. The details of speed potential of railway tracks during 2014 vis-a-vis 2025 are as under: 2025 (up to 2014 Dec’25) Sectional Speed (kmph) Track % Track Km % Km 130 & above 5,036 6.3 23,010 21.8 110 - 130 26,409 33.3 61,234 57.9 < 110 47,897 60.4 21,428 20.3 Total 79,342 100 1,05,672 100 On Indian Railways, the average speed of the train services, including Vande Bharat services, is dependent inter alia on the Maximum Permissible Speed (MPS) of the sections, track structure, geometry along the route including gradients and curves, topographical conditions, number of stoppages enroute, line capacity utilisation of sections, maintenance works in the section etc. Accordingly, the train services have been charted at the Maximum Permissible Speed of the respective sections over which the trains are being operated. Further, speeding-up of train services is an on-going process on Indian Railways. To improve capacity of existing network, several capacity enhancement/augmentation survey/works have been sanctioned by railways. These works include multi-tracking, rail flyovers, by pass lines, yard remodelling works etcAs on 01.04.2025, across Indian Railways, 431 Railway infrastructure projects (154 New line, 33 Gauge Conversion and 244 Doubling) of total length 35,966 Km, costing approx. 26.75 lakh crore are sanctioned. Zone-wise/year-wise details of all Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website. The details of commissioning/laying of new track across Indian Railways is given below:- Period New track Average commissioning of commissioned new tracks 2009-14 7,599 Km 4.2 Km/day 2014-25 34,428 Km 8.57 Km/day (more than 2 times) At present, the Delhi-Ayodhya Dham-Akbarpur section is served by 3 pairs of train services viz.14017/18 Raxaul-Anand Vihar (T) Sadbhavna Express, 12225/26 Azamgarh-Delhi Kaifiyat Express, and 15743/44 Balurghat- Bathinda Farakka Express, while the Delhi-Ayodhya Dham/Ayodhya Cantt section is served by 10 pairs of train services and the Delhi-Akbarpur section by 5 pairs of train services. Besides, introduction of new train services, including Vande Bharat Sleeper services, on any route/section depends on various factors which include- • Capacity of that section • Availability of path • Availability of required rolling stock • Availability of matching infrastructure for rolling stock • Maintenance requirement of railway tracks and other assets *****