Commissioner of Railway Safety (Southern Circle, Bangalore) Satish Kumar Mittal conducted a speed trial run in the newly converted Palani-Pollachi broad gauge section here on Tuesday.
The Commissioner started his journey on a loco train up to Udumalpet, checked the track and continued his inspection on a trolley from Udumalpet to Pollachi for on-the-spot inspection.
After inspecting signals, level crossings and stations between Udumalpet and Pollachi, the Commissioner conducted a non-stop speed trial from Pollachi to Palani, covering a distance of 80 km in less than an hour. The inspection special train left Pollachi at 3.32 p.m. and reached Palani at 4.21 p.m., according to railway officials who were on the inspection team.
The inspection special train ran at a maximum speed of 120 km to test the strength of the track. The speed trial was the last stage of inspection before operating trains. Initially, goods and passenger trains would be operated and later express trains, said railway officials.
On the basis information collected through various parameters during inspection and technical report, the Commissioner would certify the track. Later, operation of trains would commence, positively by the end next month, they added.
Divisional Railway Manager A.K. Rastogi, Construction Organisation Chief Administrative Officer R. Venkadasamy, Chief Engineer (Construction) Prafulla Verma, Chief Signal and Telecommunication Engineer Ajith Kumar, Deputy Chief Engineers Sarangapani and Ramakrishnan, Senior Divisional Safety Officer A. Ravichandran and others accompanied him.
