Coronavirus Pune: 14 Railway level-crossings overhauled during lockdown

Pune: The Pune railway division has completed the overhaul and maintenance work on 14 busiest level crossings under their jurisdiction between Pune to Lonavala, Pune to Daund and Pune to Miraj sections. The work was completed in one month after the lockdown announcement.

“The engineering department of the division has taken all the efforts in maintaining the tracks’ safety standards, ensuring uninterrupted passage of goods trains to supply essential goods in all parts of the country in the present crisis,” said Pune railway division Public Relation Officer Manoj Jhawar.

“Under this initiative, many steps have been taken, one of which is maintenance and overhauling of busy level crossing gates. There are many level crossing gates in Pune-Lonavala, Pune-Daund and Pune-Miraj sections having very high road traffic density with train vehicle units (TVU) ranging between 2 lakhs to 20 lakhs. In normal days, maintenance and overhauling of these gates require closure and restriction on movement of normal road traffic inconveniencing the general public,” said Jhawar.

As per the details provided by the engineering department, taking advantage of the reduced traffic on level crossing gates during the ongoing lockdown, the engineering department has carried out maintenance and overhauling of 14 busiest level crossing gates in and around Pune municipal areas as well as Pune-Lonavala, Pune-Daund and Pune-Miraj sections.

“The railway officers of the engineering department planned it very well and have ensured that these works are mostly done by deploying machinery, reducing manpower requirement to a minimum. The work has been done by a dedicated team of trackmen and supervisors of the engineering department following all the guidelines of social distancing and observing all precautions to contain the spread of COVID-19,” said Jhawar.

Carrying out the maintenance and overhauling of these busy level crossing gates in this lockdown period will give great relief to the public by continuous and unhindered passing of road traffic through these gates once the lockdown is over. By doing maintenance activities day and night even during this time of pandemic, the engineering department of Pune division is leaving no stone unturned for safe passage of railway traffic as well as road traffic.