Track renewal picks pace: Goyal effect or renewed focus on safety?

2,075 km of tracks underwent upgrade since January, with the month of March seeing the highest ever track renewal numbers, at 642 km

The pace of rail track renewal in the past seven months, since Piyush Goyal took charge of the Indian Railways, has picked up.

Tracks of some 3,300 km have been laid afresh. This is about 700 km more than what the Railways did in 2016-17. In 2017-18, tracks of 4,405 km were upgraded.

“Tracks of 3,296 km were renewed in the seven months since October last year, while 2,597 km was done during the previous fiscal year. This was mainly due to the increased availability of rail since January this year,” said a government official.

The Railways recently invited a