South Western Railway Zone to follow Konkan Railways track maintenance model

BENGALURU: Following a recent directive from the Railway Board to all Railway Divisions to adopt the Konkan Railway Zone model of track maintenance, the three divisions of the South Western Railway Zone have now adopted one rail stretch each on a trial basis. Of the 17 zones of the Indian Railways, the Konkan Railway is considered as an engineering marvel due to its extensive use of technology.

Accorded to top railway officials in Hubballi, the Hubballi railway division has adopted the stretch from Vyasa Colony to Amaravati while the Mysuru division has adopted two stretches — Talaguppa to Birur via Shivamogga and Kadur to Chikkamagalur. A senior official in Bengaluru said the Bangalore railway division had adopted the 111-km line from Nelamangala to Hassan, commissioned last March. This is the shortest rail route from Bengaluru to Mangaluru now.  

Elaborating on its usage, the official said that Bengaluru has two special Rail Moulded Machines which are now being used for maintaining the tracks on this line. “The manpower requirement is less and the time taken to reach the spot is much lesser as it is a mechanised form of track maintenance. Rail cutting can be done much faster,” he pointed out.  “From the safety point of view too, the machine-based maintenance scores higher, “ he added. 

Unlike the conventional method where lorries transport the required material like rails and are sometimes forced to park some distance away from the spot where track maintenance works need to be carried out, this machine can run on the railway tracks. “All the required equipment for carrying out all track-related works will be in-built in the machine only,” the official said.