SER surpasses track renewal target for 2017-18

The South Eastern Railway has surpassed the track renewal target for 2017-18 before the end of this fiscal, an SER spokesman said today.

The zonal railway has completed 506 km of track renewal, while the target for the entire 2017-18 fiscal was 480 km, the spokesman said.

The total expenditure on track renewal up to January 2018 stands at Rs 380.45 crore as compared to Rs 266.73 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

"Due to a number of steps taken in the recent past to ensure better safety measures, the number of asset failure has reduced substantially during the period from April 2017 to February 2018," SER spokesman Sanjoy Ghosh said.

The cases of rail fracture in SER zone were 77 in the year 2014-15 and 40 in 2016-17.

The number has "substantially" come down to 26 till February 2018, he said.

"SER has adopted latest technology by providing GPS tracker to the patrol men for track safety, in order to facilitate quick response in case of unsafe situation and proper monitoring of patrolling," Ghosh added.