These numbers written on white stones are of great use, but why are they disappearing from the railway tracks? the new system is even worse

New Delhi. Indian Railways is one of the largest railway networks in the world. Managing such a huge rail network is also a big task in itself. Railways use different numbering systems and signals to make this task easier. One of these systems is the numbers written in black on the white stones on the side of the railway tracks.

What is the use of the number written on the white stone
Now there is no city or landmark on the train route. So these numbers written on the stone only act as a landmark. They actually work as milestones in the railways. Suppose you are walking in a train, accidentally some of your important things fell down from the window. So what will you do, you will look out of the window, note down the number of the first milestone you see and inform the RPF that by which train you are traveling and near which numbered milestone your luggage may have dropped.

Similarly, if the pilot of the train finds any problem on the track while driving, then he informs the nearest railway station by telling the number of the milestone. It has another use, if repair work is going on on a route, the pilot is given a list in advance that repair is going on between such and such milestones, drive slowly.

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Are the milestones disappearing from the Railways?
These milestones are not disappearing, they have just been given a new look. In fact, when the milestones were laid on the Indian Railways route, coal trains used to run in India, after that diesel locomotive trains came. These milestones were used at the time of both. Later came the electric locomotive. Means electric vehicles were made. But the electrification of such a large network of railways was also a big task. After independence, railway routes were electrified under different five-year plans. In the last few years, due to efforts to reduce carbon footprint and reduce dependence on fuels, the work of electrification of Indian Railways has gained more momentum. According to the government’s data of March 2023, more than 90 percent of India’s rail network has been electrified.

When electrification took place, the milestone was made a mast. However, both of them are still visible on many routes. In fact, due to electrification, along with the railway tracks, electric poles i.e. masts were also installed. Blue colored plates were installed in these masts and numbers were written in yellow colour. Now, instead of milestones, these masts have become landmarks of the railway track. These mast numbers are fixed on the pole at a certain height. They are easily visible from a distance. Along with this, these markers are prepared in such a way that they are visible even when there is little light in the night or when there is fog.

What do the numbers on the mast mean?
Two numbers are written on the mast, like if you see in the above photo, it is written 236/16. This means that this pole is located at a distance of 236 kilometers from the first station of any main line. For example, if we talk about the Mumbai to Delhi route, then it starts from zero kilometer in Mumbai and increases according to the distance while coming to Delhi. Whereas, the number 16 written below means that this mast is the 16th mast between kilometer 236 and 237.

Usually 15 to 18 masts are installed within a radius of one kilometer. In some areas the number of masts can be from 30 to 40.

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