Suspension of regular train services due to COVID-19 has enabled the South Western Railway (SWR) to complete safety and infrastructure works besides taking up maintenance of tracks and other works across the zone.

This includes monsoon preparedness in the ghat sections, closing of a few unmanned level crossing gates, and eliminating manned level crossing gates by constructing road underbridges.

A SWR release said all planned safety works in the ghat section between Castle Rock and Kulem section of Hubballi division are nearing completion. There was no disruption of train services as only a few special trains operate at present and this also did not lead to staggering the works.

Between Castle Rock and Kulem, 2,000 sleepers were removed from side drains to facilitate water flow during monsoon and prevent track flooding which could endanger safety. Repair of 8 minor bridges on the ghat section between Londa-Miraj and Londa and Vasco-da-gama section was also taken up and the bridges are now ready for safe running of trains.

In Mysuru division 3 level crossing gates were eliminated on the Mysuru-Hassan section by constructing low height subways. An official statement said the construction entailed insertion of pre-cast boxes under the track and were completed in a matter of hours which in normal times would have lead to cancellation or regulation of a number of passenger trains. There are 311 manned LC gates in the Mysuru division of which 30 were eliminated last year and 16 are targeted for elimination by construction of subways this year.

A canal crossing work between Ajjampura and Shivani stations on the Tumakuru-Hubballi line is underway. The release said it was earlier planned with daily blocking of track for a few hours and the work was to be staggered over a period of 90 days. But taking advantage of the lockdown, it has been planned for an early completion.

“This project would facilitate the supply of water from Bhadra river to drought-hit regions of Chitradurga and the Mysuru division has taken up the project as a challenge and work is in progress day and night’’, the release said.

In April, during the early phase of the lockdown, the authorities took up the re-girdering and repair of the century-old 350-metre-long Tunga bridge and it was completed in 7 days.

Track maintenance and monitoring received top priority and Oscillation Monitoring System (OMS) which detects geometrical defects in the track was run at a regular interval of 15 days. This entailed covering a distance of 6,268 km during the lockdown period and maintenance works were taken up based on these results as per the defined protocols.

Similarly, Ultrasonic Flaw Detection System (USFD), which is used to detect the internal flaws in the rail, was carried out over 321.85km length of track, the release added.