Railway Board says 18 of 28 track-related derailments in 2025–26 occurred at turnouts

Emphasizing that the main focus for the maintenance of the rails is participation, the Railway Board said that 18 of the 28 derailments caused by rail-related problems in 2025-26 occurred at points where trains move from one line to another.

Turnouts, also known as points and crossings, are sections of track that allow trains to travel from one line to another.

“Apart from the 28 derailments in the engineering calculations [track-related issues] 18 cases in 2025-26 [about 65%] occurred in participation. Accordingly, involvements in railway maintenance should continue to be a key area of ​​focus,” the Railway Board said in a recent letter to all its regions.

“Analysis of the ultimate causes of derailments recorded in SlMS [Safety Information Management System] “It demonstrates the need to provide better advice and guidance to field officers and inspectors in accurately identifying and analyzing the causes of derailments,” the Board highlighted the discussions held during the meeting between the chief engineers and the Member. [infrastructure].

Railway Board Member at the meeting [Infrastructure] He asked the authorities to give top priority to quality maintenance of rails and expressed the need to shift from a renewal-based philosophy to a maintenance-based approach as timely maintenance increases reliability, improves the service life of the rail and reduces the need for premature replacement.

Each division was asked to prepare a unified monitoring action plan at the senior division engineer level.

“The plan should be comprehensive, covering both renovation and maintenance activities, and its progress should be regularly monitored by the Chief Road Engineer (CTE). While instrumentation in inspections has increased, manual inspections remain necessary for a complete assessment of road conditions,” the Board’s letter, referring to the member’s address, said. [Infrastructure]in question.

Departments have been asked to increase site inspections, especially at sensitive locations such as accessions, bridges, level crossings, high embankments and sharp bends, especially where there are multiple vulnerabilities.

“Quality of care must ensure durability so that once a location is addressed, it does not require frequent attention. Locations that require frequent attention should be critically examined and alternative approaches adopted to effectively address recurring problems,” the letter said.

He also urged authorities to exercise due care when feeding data into the tracking management system (TMS) to maintain data integrity.

Directing departments to monitor and close down old track-related works quickly, the Board said 141 ongoing works are more than 10 years old and require ₹ 1,334 crore to be completed.

“Similarly, 1,997 works older than five years have a Carry On Liability amounting to ₹ 16,868 crore,” he added.