Railways to expedite building boundary walls along tracks

To prevent trespassing as well as cattle straying onto railway tracks, Indian Railways has decided to expedite the process of building boundary walls along tracks.

"The railways is working on a new design of boundary wall, which will be durable. In another six months, it will be put along 1000 km tracks," Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said here on Wednesday.

"This decision will prevent trespassing as well as cattle straying onto the railway tracks in areas which are vulnerable. We are planning in such a way that the height of the boundary walls is such that dumping waste on the track will also not be easy," he added.

In the first phase, boundary walls will be installed along the Gandhinagar-Mumbai route where the newly launched Vande Bharat Express train suffered minor damages recently after the train collided with cattle on the railway line.

Acknowledging the problems of cattle crossing the tracks, the Minster said, “In India, the tracks are laid on the ground. Cattle will cross them, one cannot stop them. By erecting fences or boundary walls, we can prevent cattle crossing over the tracks.”

Whenever the railways sought safety clearances to increase the speed of the trains or start semi-high-speed trains, the Commission of Railway Safety always insisted on fencing along tracks.

The works for fencing will be funded by the Rashtriya Rail Sanrakshana Kosh, which is a Rs 1 lakh crore special safety fund. Though the railways has been erecting fences and boundary walls on certain stretches, the process will be expanded and expedited, the Minister said.

According to official data, cattle runovers affected 200 trains in the first nine days of October. As many as 4,000 trains have been affected so far this year.