Railway transport system is complex and requires effective maintenance to achieve the business goal of safe, economic and sustainable transportation of passengers and goods. The maintenance service either provided by internal or external agents is anticipated to reach specified objectives. The major objective of maintenance is to assure dependable infrastructure with the available resources, to meet operational target and other business objectives of infrastructure manager. This however requires continuous improvement through effective performance measurement and management. This article has identified some salient criteria or perspective of maintenance process that are essential to quantify the impact of past maintenance decisions and actions. The challenges of developing and implementing maintenance performance system in the railway industries are discussed. A synthesised system of maintenance performance measurement is also suggested, this emphasises the important performance aspects. A case study of a line section on the heavy haul line with mixed traffic, belonging to the Swedish railway network is presented as well to demonstrate the analytical perspective of performance indicators. This will enhance the identification of improvement opportunities in railway infrastructure maintenance. Such improvements will support the overall business goal of meeting service quality and capacity target of infrastructure manager.