Railways suffer rail fracture due to winter

With the onset of winter, Railways is facing problems of rail fracture as more than 2,000 such cases were reported this year.
The total number of rail fracture cases are 2,110 till October this year with the damage cost at Rs 14.41 lakh, the Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
Detailed study and analysis in this regard was done at Research Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO) in Lucknow and it was found that the fractures are caused due to reduced ductility at welded locations and lowering of ambient temperature during winter season induces tensile stresses in rails, he said.

However, he denied that quality of rails procured from PSUs is one of the major factors causing fractures.
The rails are manufactured in Bhilai Steel Plant as per the requirement of existing rail specifications fixed by the railways, Chowdhury said.