Remove loose parts from tracks to avoid misuse by miscreants

New Delhi: The Railway Board has instructed all its zones to immediately remove all loose engineering parts, rail materials and other equipment from the vicinity of the tracks so that those do not come in handy for miscreants to threaten the safety of train operations.

Following some incidents of alleged attempt by miscreants to sabotage safe train operations by keeping different types of obstructions on the tracks, such as gas cylinders, cement blocks etc., the board has asked all zones to initiate a week-long safety drive. One of the important elements of the drive is to ensure the removal of all loose engineering materials from the vicinity of the railway tracks.

“Often, after track replacement and repair, the engineering department normally leaves the loose engineering parts, track pieces, concrete sleepers and other items near the tracks. Of late, we have realised that these items can come in handy for miscreants to place on the tracks,” a railway official said.

“To rule out such possibilities, we have asked the engineering departments across all zones to be careful in disposing of these materials,” he added. Railway officials said an initial joint probe in the Ahmedabad-bound Sabarmati Express train derailment near Kanpur on August 17 suggested that a piece of rail, measuring about a metre in length, was placed on the tracks by someone with an intent to cause damage to safe train run.

“An FIR was lodged in that case and an investigation is on to find out who procured the rail piece and from where. However, from our side, we want to ensure that no such item should be left near the tracks that will give an opportunity to anti-social elements to exploit it against us,” the official said. Safety experts say that concrete sleepers, which are used for track support, are also a threat if the discarded ones are left around the tracks. “A concrete sleeper weighs between 280 kg and 320 kg, and it requires at least four people to lift it and move it from one place to another.

These discarded sleepers are normally left around the tracks after replacement as these do not have any monetary value,” Satish Yadav, general secretary of the All India Railway Trackmaintainers’ Union, Western Railway, said.