The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) on Thursday began a two-day statutory inspection in the Salem-Karur broad gauge section following completion of the overhead electrification project.
Accompanied by top officers from Southern Railway, Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE) and Salem Railway Division, K.A. Manoharan travelled on board a special inspection car from Salem around 9 a.m.
CORE executed the project on the 85-km stretch, installing over 2,000 electric posts, besides constructing a traction sub-station at Namakkal. Prior to the CRS visit, CORE officials carried out a trial run in the newly electrified section with an electric locomotive attached to a tower wagon.
As part of his detailed inspection, Mr. Manoharan inspected railway stations, level-crossing gates and bridges where the overhead electric cable passed through. He inspected Mallur, Rasipuram and Namakkal stations before concluding the exercise at Mohanur railway station in the evening. He also inspected the traction sub-station established as part of the project at Namakkal.
A senior CORE official said Mr. Manoharan would begin the second-day inspection on Friday to cover the remaining electrified stretch from Mohanur to Karur junction. Thereafter, the CRS would carry out a a high-speed trial run (100 km/hour) from Karur to Salem in the evening.
Among those who accompanied the CRS included K. Nagendra Prasad, Chief Project Director, Railway Electrification, Chennai; R. Udaykumar, Chief Electrical Engineer, Southern Railway; and U. Subba Rao, Divisional Railway Manager, Salem.