In a bid to curb incidents of cattle runover, the Indian Railways has started the construction of fencing work along its route on the Western Railway. The metal beam fencing is being installed on the busy Mumbai-Ahmedabad section of the railways. The metal barrier fencing will cover a length of about 622 km between the two cities. The entire work is likely to be completed by the end of May 2023.
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The move comes following the multiple incidents of cattle being hit by Vande Bharat Express. In 2022, the country’s first indigenous semi-high-speed train suffered minor damages by hitting buffaloes near Gujarat’s Gairatpur station. In a similar incident, the train also hit a cow near the Anand station last year.
On Sunday, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw uploaded a 17-second video on Twitter showing the fencing work.
In a letter to all the General Managers, dated September 22, 2022, the Indian Railways said, “Suitable fencing should be provided all along the track. Locations, which are prone to trespassing even after providing fencing, suitable RUB of restricted height (2m x 2m) should be constructed for crossings of pedestrians as well as cattle.”
About the Metal Beam Fencing project
The fencing project along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad section of the Western Railway has been undertaken at an approx cost of Rs 245.26 crore. The tenders of all eight projects have been awarded and the work is progressing rapidly. The fencing is very robust as it consists of two W-beams.
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A W-beam type stands for wide flanges, which are thicker, that aid in resisting bend stress. These types of fencing are used in highways and expressways, especially in accident-prone areas to provide protection to vehicles as well as pedestrians.
Vande Bharat Express trains
Presently, there are eight Vande Bharat Express trains plying on different routes: New Delhi-Varanasi, New Delhi – Shri Vaishno Devi Mata Katra, Gandhinagar Capital – Ahmedabad – Mumbai Central, Amb Andaura – New Delhi, Mysuru – Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Chennai Central, Nagpur – Bilaspur, Howrah – New Jalpaiguri, and Secunderabad – Visakhapatnam.