This research paper presents the design and modelling of a Zigbee and IoT-based energy-efficient wireless sensor network (WSN) for railway system monitoring for safety purpose. The system is designed to monitor various railway parameters, including track conditions, driving comfort, wheel inspection, underground infrastructure, status of wheel bearing, navigation, axle-spring performance, brake efficiency, and bogie dimension. Zigbee communication is employed for its low energy consumption, while IoT is leveraged to ensure high data rates and an extended communication range by enabling real-time data uploads to a centralized server. The Zigbee-enabled sensor nodes feature a self-excited transmission and reception module, enhancing overall energy efficiency. The proposed model’s performance is assessed using key metrics such as power consumption, throughput, data traffic, data drop rate, delay, and network load, and the results are compared with traditional monitoring techniques to highlight its effectiveness.