PATNA: With fog disrupting running of trains, railways has beefed up winter safety measures to avoid any untoward incident.
East Central Railway (ECR) chief public relations officer (CPRO) Rajesh Kumar said the passenger trains have been equipped with global positioning system (GPS)-based fog signals from safety point of view. “The new GPS-based devices will give instant signals to loco pilots about poor visibility and track condition. Loco pilots will now be able to control the speed of trains and pass through dense fog areas safely,” he added.
The ECR has requisitioned 1,317 GPS-based devices this. The fog-prone Danapur division will alone get 584 such devices, Samastipur 511 and Sonepur 222. Track patrol men and fog men deployed at the vulnerable places have been provided with GPS trackers to ensure foolproof safety of passenger trains, the CPRO said, adding night station staff have been provided fog signals (detonators) for use at places where signal visibility is poor.
The new device is also known as ‘fog pass’ and ‘fog pilot assistance system’ in railway parlance. The device has proved a boon for passenger trains in foggy weather conditions.
The railways has also installed signal sighting boards, fog signal posts and lime marks at each level crossing gate as indicator to slow down speeding passenger trains.
The CPRO said centralised control rooms have been set up at the ECR headquarters in Hajipur and also at each divisional headquarters to keep a tab on movement of passenger trains amid fog. The Railway Board has asked the ECR zone to ensure proper implementation of safety measures.
Railways reschedules five pairs of special trains: Railways has revised the timings of at least five pairs of long-distance special trains by 25 to 35 minutes following increase in speed limit of passenger trains from 110kmph to 130kmph on several routes falling under the jurisdiction of the East Central Railway (ECR).
ECR chief public relations officer (CPRO) Rajesh Kumar said the weekly Dibrugarh-Amritsar special (05933/05934) would run with the revised timing from December 15 and the Howrah-Prayagraj special (02333/02334) from December 18. The Dibrugarh-New Delhi special (02503/02504), Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express special (02505/02506) and Dibrugarh-Lalgarh special (05909/05910) will also run with the revised timing from December 11 and 17, respectively.