If these stones are removed from under the railway track, the entire system will change!

While traveling by train, you must have seen countless sharp stones lying around and under the tracks. In railway language they are called ‘Ballast’ or Gitti. These stones, which have been in use for decades, have made a huge contribution to the safe operation of the railways. These stones spread the weight of the heavy train evenly on the ground, prevent the tracks from slipping from their place, prevent grass or trees from growing between the tracks and allow rain water to flow easily from below instead of accumulating on the tracks. But as Indian Railways moves into the era of 160 to 200 km/hr high-speed trains and bullet trains, this traditional ‘ballast track’ system is beginning to reach its limits. In such a situation, preparations are underway to completely remove these stones from under the tracks.

1. How will the new ‘Ballastless Track’ look like after the stones are removed?

The new technology that Railways is adopting after removing stones from under the tracks is called Ballastless Track or ‘Slab Track’.

• Reinforced concrete structure: In this system, instead of stones, a flat and very strong slab of RCC or concrete is laid. On top of this concrete slab, steel tracks are fixed with straight and precise anchors.

• Use in metro and high-speed corridors: In India, the same unpaved slab track is being used in the metro rail services of cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata as well as in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Project and the Vapi-Surat High-Speed ​​Corridor.

2. How will the entire railway system change with ballastless track?

If concrete slab tracks are removed from main railway routes across the country, it will completely change the face of Indian Railways:

• Unexpected increase in speed of trains: When a train passes at a speed of more than 160 km/hour on a traditional stone track, there is a fear of the stones moving and uprooting. On stone-free slab tracks, trains can easily run at a speed of 250 to 350 km/hr without any vibration.

• Maintenance expenses reduced by up to 90%: On traditional tracks, due to rain, dust and the weight of the train, stones move from their place, to repair which the Railways has to use huge machines and spend crores of rupees every year. After construction of slab track, the need for maintenance of tracks is greatly reduced.

• Protection from derailment and derailment: Due to subsidence or disappearance of stones, the alignment of the tracks gets spoiled, due to which there is a danger of derailment of the train. The tracks remain firmly fixed on the concrete slab, due to which the possibility of railway accidents remains negligible.

• Freedom from water logging and dirt on the tracks: During the rainy season, trains come to a standstill due to waterlogging. The slab track has a modern in-built mechanism of drainage system. Additionally, cleaning the tracks becomes extremely easy.

3. What is the biggest challenge of this change in India?

Even though ballastless track technology is the future of railways, implementing it overnight across the country’s 68,000-km long rail network is very challenging:

• Initial Cost: The initial cost of building a concrete slab track is 2 to 3 times higher than that of a conventional gravel track.

• Time and track blocks in construction: It is a very difficult task to cast concrete by uprooting old tracks and stones and bringing traffic block for months on the existing busy railway routes.

Indian Railways moving towards the future

This is why Indian Railways is implementing this technology in a phased manner. In the first phase, ballastless tracks are being built on all major tunnels, bridges, major railway stations, Vande Bharat/Bullet Train routes and Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC). The removal of stones from the tracks in the coming years will write a new story of modern, safe and high-speed travel on Indian Railways.