Indian Railways‘ Western Railway zone (WR) has completed the work of fencing along the tracks to curb the incidents of cattle runover. The metal fencing has been installed on the section between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
The work for erecting the barrier on the 357 km long stretch began in January this year. The move comes following the multiple-incident cattle-hit by Vande Bharat Express. The zonal railway has planned to build a metal barrier on the 623 RKM at a cost of around Rs 245 crore.
The metal beam fencing has been completed in 150 route kilometres (RKM) in the Mumbai Central division, 175 RKM in the Vadodara division, and 31 RKM in the Ahmedabad division.
What is Metal fencing?
The metal fencing is very robust as it consists of two W-beams. These beams stand for wide flanges, which are thicker, that aid in resisting bend stress. These types of fencing are commonly used in highways and expressways, especially in accident-prone areas to provide protection to vehicles as well as pedestrians.
Significance of Metal beam fencing:-
The fencing along the railway tracks is of immense importance. This will reduce trespassing incidents. Once the project gets completed, the semi-high speed will be able to run at a speed of 160 kmph. In addition to this, other mail and express trains would also be benefitted from the fencing work as the train operation in the section will become hassle-free.
Recently, the North Central Railway (NCR) zone has asked the authorities to execute the suitably designed cattle fencing made of “seasoned and creosote oil treated bamboo coated with HDPE (high density poly-ethylene) on the Ghaziabad-Kanpur stretch.
The New Delhi-Howrah and New Delhi- Mumbai rail route also requires fencing. The duo are one of the busiest routes of the railways.