JOIN USKonkan Railway, comprising 740-km long route, is geared up for monsoon. All safety works on this route from Kolad (after Roha station of Central Railway) to Thokur (before Mangalore station) has been completed as planned, KRCL (Konkan Railway Corporation Limited) Chief Public Relations Officer L K Verma said.
Special attention was given for cleaning water drains. The large scale geo-safety works executed along the railway line in the past had reduced incidents of boulder rolling on the tracks and landslides. No major disruption to train services had taken place on account of boulder fall during monsoons in the past seven years, he said.
Konkan Railway will conduct monsoon patrolling as under the provisions of Indian Railway Permanent Way Manual to ensure safe running of trains.
About 974 personnel will patrol the Konkan Railway route during the monsoon. Vulnerable locations will be patrolled round-the-clock and stationary watchmen will be deployed for 24 hours at critical locations. BRN-mounted excavators had been kept ready at all prominent points for quick movement in case of any emergency, he informed.
Instructions had been issued to the loco pilots to run trains at a reduced speed of 40 kmph in case of heavy rainfall when visibility is limited. Both Loco Pilots and guards of trains had been provided with walkie-talkie sets as well as every station on Konkan Railway is equipped with 25 Watt VHF base station. This enables wireless communication between the train crew and Station Master.
Emergency Communication (EMC) sockets had been provided at a distance of 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 emergency situations. 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 LED for improving signal visibility, Verma said.
Self-recording rain gauges had been installed at nine stations — Mangaon, Chiplun, Ratnagiri, Vilwade, Kanakavali, Madgaon, Karwar, Bhatkal and Udupi which will record the rainfall in the region and alert officials in case of increase in rainfall.
Flood warning systems for bridges had been provided at three locations to alert officials in case of flash flood in the river when water flow reaches above danger level.
Monsoon Time Table will come into effect from June 10 to October 31.
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.