SECR renews 116km tracks, tops chart

Nagpur: The South East Central Railway (SECR) is leading in track renewal works across the Indian Railways by achieving 53% of the set target in the last five months.
In the last 5 months from April to August 2019, the SECR zone comprising Nagpur, Raipur and Bilaspur has renewed 116.40km of tracks (53%) of the set target of 220km.
The SECR was followed by Western Railway (46%) and North-Western Railway (42%) with second and third spot respectively. Each year work of track renewal is taken up separately in each division keeping in view the uninterrupted movement of trains.
SECR has 5,172km track routes and operates 356 mail/express trains apart from several freight trains. This makes renewal of tracks imperative.
Of the 116.40km tracks that were renewed, 74.50km were in Bilaspur division followed by Raipur (24.50km) and Nagpur (17km).
“Getting tracks renewed in time is a big challenge. It is a continuous process to maintain operational safety as maintenance of tracks is vital for safe operations. We took bare minimum blocks to get the work done,” observed Santosh Kumar, senior PRO, SECR, Bilaspur.
Kumar said renewal of tracks include lining, alignment and levelling besides replacing and cleaning of ballast which act as cushion for tracks. “We are taking help of 48 track related machines and trackmen to expedite work,” he added.
Apart from renewal of tracks, SECR expects to complete laying of new lines, gauge conversion and doubling in 2019-20. The zone has been allocated Rs3,303 crore in the 2019-20 budget.
“In the 4-5 years, we laid 44km of and completed 312km of doubling and third lines. This will give big boost to train movement and infrastructure development in the region,” said Kumar.
Under the Gondia-Jabalpur gauge conversion project, Kumar said 92km of narrow gauge route has been converted into broad gauge between Itwari-Bhimlagondi. “We have also completed 151km of double, third and fourth lines in Kirodimalnagar-Raigarh-Jamga-Saragaon sections,” said Kumar.
“Though we had to cancel trains several times and take blocks to achieve the targets, the results are encouraging as there is improvement in punctuality of trains to 97%,” he added.