(a) whether the North Frontier Railway is ill-equipped to search and identify fractures on the railway tracks;
(b) if so, whether modern equipments are not available with the Railways for this purpose;
(c) if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the steps taken by the Railways to provide modern equipment to the North Frontier Railway and North Bengal for identification of fractures on the railway tracks?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI R. VELU)
(a) to (d): A statement is attached.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.4234 BY SHRI RANEN BARMAN AND SHRI HITEN BARMAN TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 18/05/2006, REGARDING IDENTIFICATION OF FRACTURES ON RAILWAY TRACKS.
(a): No, Sir. Ultrasonic Flaw Detection (USFD) equipment for testing of rail tracks is available with Northeast Frontier Railway in adequate numbers.
(b) & (c): Does not arise.
(d): During January, 2005, Northeast Frontier Railway was given approval for procurement of two Nos. of Ultrasonic Rail Flaw Detector with advance technology and data logger as a pilot project to identify inherent flaws in rail as preventive measure for rail fracture. The purchase order for aforesaid equipment has already issued on 03-03-2006 by Northeast Frontier Railway. With this arrangement ultrasonic testing potential of rails on Northeast Frontier Railway will be enhanced even further.