Vulnerable locations on tracks to be identified and defects rectified on priority

Allahabad: On 27th November 2017, a safety meeting was held in the office of General Manager, North Central Railway in the Vindhya Conference Hall, Chaired by GM/NCR M. C. Chauhan. Present at the meeting were all the PHODs/HODs of NCR and the DRMs of the three Divisions of NCR – Allahabad, Agra and Jhansi, who participated via video conferencing.

The meeting began with the officers keeping silence for two minutes for those who lost their lives in the unfortunate derailment of Vasco D’Gama Express in Manikpur in the early morning of 24th of November.

Starting the proceedings of the meeting, GM/NCR M. C. Chauhan said that the accident at Manikpur was most unfortunate and each one of us should introspect and take all necessary measures to avoid such incidents. He said that there is a need for intensive inspection by officials to find out the shortcomings and take immediate corrective measures.

It was decided at the meeting that:

1. GPS based trackers would be provided to all patrolmen and would also be affixed on all inspection trolleys in the next 15 days.

2. Vulnerable locations on tracks prone to rail fractures-with corroded rails, night soil accumulations and/or throwing garbage – will be identified and rails at such locations will be changed on priority if found to be corroded.

3. RCC walls will be constructed in such locations to deter garbage throwing/defecation on track, and stray cattle coming on tracks.

4. Night inspections at all levels of officials, right from inspectors to Chief Engineer-level officers will be intensified. Officers going on inspections will immediately report any safety-related shortcomings to the control, which will immediately be conveyed to the concerned officer(s) who will ensure that the same are got rectified immediately.

5. Adequate availability of ballast on tracks to be ensured.

6. Deep Screening of Ballast on ‘A’ route will be given priority.

7. Patrolling will be intensified and surprise checks will be done to cross-check if there was any lapse in patrolling.

8. Drive will be launched to improve the skill of welders in order to reduce weld-failures in rails.

9. All major rail bridges will be provided with footpaths for maintenance workers who work on such bridges.

10. All work being done on tracks will be done only after ensuring that proper protection of worksite and workers is done.

At the end of the discussion, all present resolved to do their very best to pre-empt and prevent mishaps/accidents on the system of NCR. The meeting ended with the release of ‘Jagrukata’, the safety bulletin of NCR for the months of July-September-2017.