This is expected to boost safety and speed of train operations across the country.
New Delhi: The Indian Railways utilised the Covid-19 lockdown period to complete 200 pending maintenance projects, which is expected to boost safety and speed of train operations in key sections of tracks across the country.
The national carrier has stopped most part of its operations though it is running 230 passenger trains, apart from the freight operations which are continuing as usual. Till some time back, it also ran “Shramik Special” trains to ferry migrant workers. This, Railway officials say, gave them sufficient time to focus on those pending works, which were completed during the lockdown period.
Pending for several years, these unfinished projects often confronted Indian Railways as bottlenecks.
These works taken up for removal of bottlenecks and enhance safety include 82 rebuilding / rehabilitation of bridge, 48 limited height subway / road under bridge in lieu of level crossing gate, 16 construction / strengthening of foot over bridge, 14 dismantling of old foot over bridge, seven launching of road over bridge, 5 yard remodelling, one commissioning of doubling and electrification and 26 other projects, as per the information provided by the Ministry of Railways.
For example, yard modification work in Jolarpetti (Chennai Division) got completed which resulted in easing out of curve and enhancing the speed up to 60 kmph on Bengaluru end and facilitated simultaneous reception and dispatch.
Similarly, dismantling of old abandoned unsafe Foot Over Bridge at Ludhinana (Firozepur Division) was also completed. Dismantling of this 135 meter long old abandoned FOB structure over 19 tracks and seven passenger platforms was overdue since 2014 after new FOB was commissioned.
Work of re-girdering of bridge on Tunga River (Mysuru Division) was completed in May. Similarly, dismantling of unsafe deck of Kopar Road ROB near Dombivali (Mumbai Division) was completed during the lockdown which has enhanced its safety. This deck, covering six railway tracks, was declared unsafe for road users in 2019.
Two projects of doubling with electrification in Varanasi Division were completed on 13 June. One of these projects is Kachhwa Road to Madhosingh Section and the second is 16 km of the Manduadih to Prayagraj section. This has resulted in decongestion of east-west routes and facilitation of freight movement.
The dismantling work of ROB crossing eight railway tracks in the approach of Chennai Central Station was also completed. This ROB was declared unsafe and was closed for heavy vehicles since July 2016. ROB dismantling could not be done as traffic block requirement was very high resulting into massive cancellation / rescheduling of trains with loss of passenger revenue.
Similarly, works on construction of two new bridges in Vijayawada Division of South Central Railway were completed on 3 May. Signalling upgradation work of Azamgarh station (Varanasi Division) was completed in May. Apart from ensuring supply chains of all essential commodities running through parcel trains and freight trains, Indian Railways executed these long pending maintenance works during this lockdown period when passenger services were suspended.