NEW DELHI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The state-owned Indian Railways has decided to construct a 500-km boundary wall along the train tracks between Delhi and Mumbai, officials said Monday.

"The aim of the boundary wall is to stop people and stray animals entering into the railway tracks that often brings down the speed of express trains travelling between the two cities," a senior railway official told the media.

"Currently, trains travel at a maximum speed of 130 km per hour on this route. But once the wall is erected, express trains will be able to keep an average speed of 160 km," he added.

The Indian Railways is one of the world's largest train networks, criss-crossing the country from north to south. It operates some 9,000 passenger trains and carries nearly 23 million passengers every day.

Train disasters are quite common in India as much of the colonial-era rail infrastructure is out of date. People are often killed in train accidents, mostly derailments, across the country every year.