Damaged signal cables could lead to 'catastrophic consequences': Railways to all zones

New Delhi: The Railways has cautioned all its zones to exercise greater care during infrastructure work as damage to signal and telecommunication cables can pose a serious threat to safety and train operations and lead to "catastrophic consequences".

The Railway Board, in a recent letter addressed to all zones, said that all zones are "undertaking large-scale infrastructure, safety and reliability enhancement works such as doubling, yard remodeling, construction of boundary walls, LHS (Limited Height Subway), ABS (Automatic Block Signalling), Kavach etc.".

During execution of these works, incidents of cable cuts or damages are being reported frequently, leading to signal failures and disruption in train operations, it said.

"Such repeated signal failures due to cable damages pose a serious threat to the safety and reliability of train services and could lead to catastrophic consequences if adequate precautions are not taken," the letter read.

The Board said that safety instructions have been issued to zones from time to time for protecting the signal and telecommunication cables along the railway tracks; however, "cases of cable cut/damage continue to be reported frequently".

The letter has suggested several steps to prevent damage to signal and telecommunication cables such as utility shifting before commencing digging work, proper coordination between various departments before undertaking any work near or along the track, and ensuring the provision of integrated Cable Route Plans, which have already been circulated to all zones.

The Board officials said that in 2023, written communications were issued to all the zones several times with the precautionary measures that they are supposed to take before carrying out infrastructure work.

"However, officials are not adhering to those instructions, and that's why a lot of cases of signal cable damage have been reported in recent times. Since a lot of infrastructure work is going on in almost all of the divisions related to the installation of Kavach (Automatic train protection system), doubling and tripling of railway tracks, installation of modern signalling systems, among others, the concerned officials need to take a lot of precautions," an official said.

He added, "We understand that it is a big challenge to carry on infrastructure work along with the running regular train operations, but despite that, safety should be a top priority. There are adequate instructions and safety measures which they need to follow. Any shortcut measure will lead to serious consequences."