Prestressed Concrete Sleepers:

Prestressed concrete sleepers are nowadays extensively used in Indian Railways. These sleepers have high initial cost but are very cheap in long run due to their long life. In these sleepers, high tension steel wires are used. These wires are stretched by hydraulic jack to give necessary tension in the wires. The concrete is then put under a very high initial compression. These sleepers are heavily damaged in case of derailment or accidents of trains.