Konkan Railway gears up for Monsoon

Shwetha S

Udupi, June 04, 2021: While Indian railways stresses the safety of passengers, it gives extra attention during Monsoon. The challenge is more in the 740 km long Konkan route between Kolad and Thokur. The region receives heavy rainfall and there are possibilities of landslide and flooding on the railway track. But the Konkan Railway team toils round the clock for the smooth running of trains and the safety of passengers.

This year as the fight against the second wave of Covid-19 strengthens, Konkan Railway continues to be fully committed to the welfare of its passengers. All efforts are being made to maintain track and passenger amenities ensuring all safety-related guidelines and Covid-19 protocols.

Konkan Railway has geared up for the Monsoon season.

“All planned safety works on this route from Kolad to Thokur have been completed. Special attention has been given to catch water drain cleaning and inspection of cuttings. The large-scale geo-safety works executed along the railway line in the last few years have significantly reduced the incidences of boulder fall and soil slip, thus ensuring the safe running of trains. No major disruption to train services has occurred on account of boulder fall during monsoons in the last 8 years,” Konkan Railway Deputy General Manager (PR) Girish R Karandikar said.

Monsoon Patrolling:
Konkan Railway will conduct Monsoon Patrolling as per the prescribed guidelines to ensure the safe running of trains. About 681 personnel will patrol the Konkan Railway route. Vulnerable locations will be supervised round the clock and Stationary Watchmen will be deployed for 24 hours at critical locations. Speed restrictions will be imposed at vulnerable locations. BRN mounted excavators have been kept ready at nominated points for quick movement in case of any emergency.

Instructions for Loco Pilots:
Instructions have also been issued to loco pilots to run the trains at a reduced speed of 40 kmph in case of heavy rainfall when visibility is limited.

Self-propelled ARMVs (Accident Relief Medical Van), with the provision of Operation Theatre and emergency medical aid, are kept ready at Ratnagiri and Verna (Goa). The ART (Accident Relief Train) is also kept ready at Verna (Goa).

Communication:
Mobile phones have been provided to all safety category staff to contact the control office/station in an emergency. Both Loco Pilots and Guards of trains have been provided with Walkie-talkie sets as well as every station on Konkan Railway is equipped with a 25 Watt VHF base station. This enables wireless communication between the train crew as well as the train crew and Station Master. Emergency Communication (EMC) sockets are provided at a distance of an average 1 Km along the Konkan Railway route that enables the Patrolmen, Watchmen, Loco Pilots, Guard, and other field maintenance staff to contact Station Master and control office during any emergencies. Satellite phone communication has been provided in ARMV (Accident Relief Medical Van) for emergency contact. All main signal aspects on Konkan Railway are now replaced with LEDs for improving signal visibility.

Keeping tab on rain and wind:
Self-recording rain gauges have been installed at 9 stations of Mangaon, Chiplun, Ratnagiri, Vilwade, Kanakavali, Madgaon, Karwar, Bhatkal & Udupi. They will record the rainfall in the region and alert officials in case of increased rainfall. Flood warning systems for bridges have been provided at 3 locations viz. Kali river (between Mangaon & Veer), Savitri river (between Veer & Sape Wamane), Vashishti river (between Chiplun & Kamathe) and will alert Officials in case of flash flood in the river when water flow reaches above danger Level.

Anemometers have been installed at 04 locations viz. Panval viaduct (between Ratnagiri & Nivasar), Mandovi bridge (between Thivim & Karmali), Zuari bridge ( Karmali & Verna), and Sharavati bridge (between Honnavar & Manki) to monitor the wind velocity.

Control rooms at Belapur, Ratnagiri, and Madgaon, will work 24 x 7 during the monsoon period for ensuring the safe running of trains. Monsoon Time Table will come into effect from 10th June 2021 up to 31st Oct 2021. Passengers may check train status online during monsoon by visiting www.konkanrailway.com or using KRCL App by downloading from Google Play Store or by dialing 139.

During the recent cyclone Tauktae, the services over Konkan Railway functioned smoothly with no major disruptions despite strong cyclonic winds and heavy rainfall.