Why Indian Railways is looking to outsource part of its maintenance operations

The Indian Railways is set to implement a comprehensive safety upgrade plan in response to a series of train accidents that have occurred over the past two years. The plan includes training loco pilots using simulators and outsourcing certain components of maintenance operations, according to officials familiar with the matter.
The Railway Board has instructed all zonal railways to explore the possibility of outsourcing the maintenance of machines used in track renewal operations to address the shortage of staff due to vacancies or inadequate post creation, which has led to the underutilization of these machines.
According to an ET report, the Railway Board has also emphasized the need for improved track maintenance as part of the proposed upgrade. With increasing traffic on existing tracks, the available maintenance block spells have decreased, necessitating the use of integrated track machines that incorporate tamper and track stabilizer for faster maintenance operations.
However, the current track maintenance machines used by Indian Railways lack this integrated capability, according to one of the officials.
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The safety upgrade plan is expected to result in the standardization of machines across the railways fleet.
"Orders have been placed for loco simulators and upgrading track maintenance machines," an official aware of the development told ET, adding that both local and international suppliers have been engaged.
Contracts worth Rs 212.25 crore have been awarded for the purchase of 17 loco simulators from companies based in Spain, Belgium, Poland, and India.
In addition to these major procurements, smaller purchases, such as automatic fire detection and suppression systems, have also been made as part of the safety upgrade initiative.