Konkan Railway fully geared up for southwest monsoon

MANGALURU: A journey along the picturesque Konkan Railway route this monsoon is all set to be slow and steady. Keeping in mind the terrain along the route, Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd has put in place several measures to ensure that train operations on the route is incident free and has completed all its planned safety works from Kolad, after Roha station of Central Railway to Thokur, before Mangaluru junction station under Palakkad division.
Special attention has been paid to drain cleaning and inspection of cuttings. As a result of the large scale geo-safety works executed along the railway line in last decade and more, incidences of boulder fall and soil slip have significantly reduced, thus ensuring safe running of trains. There has been no major disruption to train services on account of boulder fall during monsoon in last five years, L K Verma, chief public relations officer, KRCL said.
Konkan Railway will conduct monsoon patrolling to ensure safe running of trains. About 770 personnel will be patrolling the route during the monsoon. Vulnerable locations will be patrolled round the clock and stationary watchmen deployed for 24 hours at critical locations. Speed restrictions will be imposed at vulnerable locations. BRN mounted excavators have been kept ready at all nominated points for quick movement in case of any emergency.
Instructions have also been issued to loco drivers to run trains at a reduced speed of 40 kmph in case of heavy rainfall when visibility is limited. Self-propelled accident relief medical van, with provision of operation theatre and providing emergency medical aid are kept ready at all time at Ratnagiri and Verna along with accident relief train. Loco pilots, station masters, executives of all departments and other field officials have been provided mobile phones
Both loco pilots and guards of trains have been provided with walkie-talkie sets as well as every station on Konkan Railway is equipped with 25 Watt VHF base station. This enables wireless communication between train crew as well as train crew and station masters. Emergency communication sockets have been provided at an average distance of 1-km along the route that enables the stakeholders to contact station master and train controllers during emergency.
Satellite phone communication has been provided in ARMV for emergency contact when ARMV is pressed in service. All main signals on Konkan Railway numbering 2,344 are now replaced with LED for improving signal visibility. Tree Control rooms at Belapur, Ratnagiri and Madgaon, will work 24 x 7 during monsoon period for ensuring safe running of train. Passengers can check train status on www.konkanrailway.com, or dial 139, Verma said.