Mangaluru: The Konkan Railway is making all efforts to ensure availability of essential commodities through its uninterrupted freight services.
Konkan Railway Chief Public Relation Officer L K Verma in a press release informed that the staff is making all efforts to maintain the track, ensuring all safety guidelines and maintaining hygiene and social distancing norms.
The Konkan region is known to receive heavy rainfall during the monsoon season. The Konkan Railway runs through this region and comprises a 740-km-long route. All planned safety works on this route from KOLAD (after Roha station of Central Railway) to THOKUR (before Mangaluru station) have been completed.
Special attention has been given to catch water drain cleaning and inspection of cuttings. The large-scale geo-safety works executed along the railway line in the last few years have significantly reduced the incidences of boulder fall and soil slip, thus ensuring safe running of trains. No major disruption to train services has occurred due to boulder fall during the monsoons in the last seven years.
The Konkan Railway will conduct Monsoon Patrolling as per the provisions of the Indian Railway Permanent Way Manual to ensure the safe running of trains. About 974 personnel will patrol the Konkan Railway route during the monsoons. Vulnerable locations will be patrolled round the clock and stationary watchmen will be deployed for 24 hours at critical locations. Speed restrictions will also be imposed at vulnerable locations. BRN mounted excavators have been kept ready at all nominated points for quick movement in case of an emergency
Instructions have also been issued to the loco pilots to run the trains at a reduced speed of 40 kmph in case of heavy rainfall when the visibility is limited. Self-propelled ARMVS (Accident Relief Medical Van), with the provision of Operation Theatre and providing emergency medical aid, are kept ready at Ratnagiri and Verna (Goa) along with ART (Accident Relief Train).
Mobile phones have been provided to all safety category staff so they can contact the control office station in an emergency. Both Loco Pilots and Guards of the trains have been provided with walkie-talkie sets and every station along the Konkan Railway route is equipped with 25 Watt VHF base station. This enables wireless communication between the train crew and station master. Emergency Communication (EMC) sockets have been provided at a distance of an average of 1 km along the route that enables the patrolmen, watchmen, loco pilots, guards and other field maintenance staff to contact the station master and control office during emergencies.
Satellite phone communication has also been provided in an ARMV (Accident Relief Medical Van) for emergency contact. All main signals on the route have now been replaced with LED bulbs to improve the signal visibility.
Self-recording rain gauges have been installed at nine stations viz Mangaon, Chiplun, Ratnagiri, Vilwade, Kanakavalli, Madgaon, Karwar, Bhatkal and Udupi, which will record the rainfall in the region and aiert the officials in case of increased rainfall.
Flood warning systems have been provided at three locations which will alert the officials in case of flash floods in the river when the water flow crosses the danger Level.
Control rooms at Belapur, Ratnagiri, and Madgaon will work 24×7 during the monsoon for ensuring the safe running of trains. The Monsoon Time Table will come into effect from June 10 upto Oct 31. Passengers may check the train status online during the monsoons by visiting www.konkanrailway.com or using the KRCL App that is available on Google Play Store, or by dialing 139, the press release informed.
