In order to prevent miscreants from using loose engineering parts, rail materials and other equipment near the tracks to endanger train safety, the Railway Board has directed all of its zones to remove them right away. “Often, after track replacement and repair, the engineering department normally leaves the loose engineering parts, track pieces, concrete sleepers and other items near the tracks. Of late, we have realised that these items can come in handy for miscreants to place on the tracks. To rule out such possibilities, we have asked the engineering departments across all zones to be careful in disposing of these materials,” a railway official said.
The board has requested that all zones start a week-long safety drive on September 9 in response to some incidents of alleged attempt by miscreants to sabotage safe train operations by keeping different types of obstructions on the tracks, such as gas cylinders, cement blocks etc. Ensuring that all loose engineering parts are removed from the area around the railway tracks is a crucial component of the drive.
Railway officials claimed that a preliminary joint investigation into the August 17 Sabarmati Express train crash in Kanpur, which was headed towards Ahmedabad, revealed that someone had intentionally placed a metre-long piece of rail on the rails in order to endanger a safe train run. He further added that an investigation is underway to determine who and where the rail piece was obtained after a formal complaint was filed in that case. “We also want to make sure that nothing like that is left close to the tracks so that anti-social forces might use it against us,” the official stated.
Concrete sleepers, which are used for track support, can potentially be dangerous if they are abandoned and left near railroads, according to safety experts. “A concrete sleeper weighs between 280 kg and 320 kg, and it requires at least four people to lift it and move it from one place to another. These discarded sleepers are normally left around the tracks after replacement as these do not have any monetary value,” Satish Yadav, general secretary of the All India Railway Trackmaintainers’ Union, Western Railway, said.
Some contractors purchase these sleepers in order to remove iron from them, or individuals utilise them to erect barriers or borders around their fields, Yadav added.
(with PTI inputs)