Rlys to tweak fencing in bid to check cattle hits
NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways has decided to tweak plans for fencing the tracks between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, including shifting these structures closer to the rails and ensuring level crossings are sealed, according to officials and documents seen by HT.
The move comes after several instances where the Ahmedabad-mumbai Vande Bharat (VB) express struck cattle on its 525km journey, killing animals and picking up damage.
“The rail board has instructed execution of suitably modified and designed fencing based on NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) crash barrier for about 400 km on Ahmedabad-vadodara-mumbai section of Western Railway to prevent the cattle and human run over cases,” a letter issued by the Railway Board to the Western Railways division, seen by HT, stated.
“The distance of the fencing from the centreline of the nearest track will range from 4.5m to 7m,” the letter added. Commenting on the plan, Shri Prakash, former member, Traffic of Indian Railways, said: “Fencing of the railway tracks at selected places may not be very effective. Secondly, the fencing should be done protecting the entire railway land...”