Indian Railways Repaired 12,000 Km of Tracks during Lockdown
The central government has implemented a lockdown to curb the spread of the global epidemic coronavirus in the country. Meanwhile, rail and air traffic services have been cancelled. At the same time, Indian Railways has taken advantage of 40 days of lockdown by continuing the maintenance work. During the 40 days of the lockdown, the railway has replaced the 50-year-old wooden Caesar cross-over (sleeper under the tracks) and completed the construction of a FOB (Foot Over Bridge) which had been pending for 100 years. The railway also officially took a block of about 705 hours during maintenance.
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Repair of Railway Tracks Will Improve Safety
The railway said that the suspension period of passenger services was used to complete the long-standing repair work on the rail network. Repair of tracks will improve safety and increase operational efficiency. This will also eliminate the delay of trains. The Ministry stated that these works were pending for many years due to which the Railways were facing severe bottlenecks.
Railways Completed Repair Work of 12,270 Km Rail Tracks
The ministry said that during the lockdown, around 500 modern heavy duty tracks repairing machines completed the repair work on 12,270 km long tracks. It said that the Indian Railways planned to undertake this task during the lockdown period, considering that it was a good opportunity to complete the repair work when train services would not be affected.
Repair Work of Tracks was also Done in 1970
The railway had replaced a wooden Caesar cross over in Telangana in 1970. It took a block of 72 hours. Apart from this, wooden sleepers were replaced at the crossing of tracks by taking a 24-hour block at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. At the same time, the unsafe ROB (Road Over Bridge) was removed near Chennai railway station. Eight tracks were passing under it. Also, bridge work was done at many places.
Maintenance of Rail Tracks Will Speed Up the Trains
Officials said that the remaining maintenance work will be completed by May 17. This was the first time in the 167-year history of the railways that the operation of trains was stopped for such a long time. However, about three thousand freight trains are operating for the transportation of essential commodities. Maintenance done by the railways will speed up the trains on many routes.
Coaches’ Sanitation Work has Also Started
The administration of North and Northeast Railway is doing the work of overhauling and maintenance of their engines rapidly. At the same time, the work of sanitation etc. has also been started, so that there is no problem in running the trains standing at the stations for a long time. Not only this, according to the Divisional Railway Manager, an action plan is being prepared to control the crowd of passengers and maintain social distance at the railway station.