The Palakkad division of the Southern Railway has said that punctuality of trains is expected to improve in the next two or three weeks.
The speed restriction imposed on trains was being removed on completion of planned works such as ballast screening, bridge construction and limited height subway, the Railway said in a press release on Tuesday.
The late running of trains has been attributed to the track maintenance works, building of bridges and subways and late arrival of trains from adjacent divisions. Track maintenance is done via Ballast Cleaning Machine (BCM) and Track Renewal Trains (TRT).
Officials said the BCM was required for cleaning ballast to get better resilience and was to be done every 10 years. The TRT renew the rails and sleepers simultaneously and this operation is required every 20 to 30 years.
With the Railway making safety a big concern and applying stringent criteria, a large number of internal defects have been detected. The rails are tested by means of ultrasound waves at a frequency of three months to one year, depending on the number of trains running in the section. On the main line from Shoranur to Mangaluru, the frequency is three to four months.
About 900 defects were identified and removed as against an average of 20 to 30 every year between September 2016 and May 2017. A speed slowdown to 30 kmph was required to be imposed till the defects were removed. This caused the delay of a large number of trains.
Apart from maintenance works, there are certain construction and renewal works such as construction of subways, construction of bridges and replacement of rails and sleepers, which also require regulation in train services. The work of ballast cleaning and construction of bridges are usually done during the non-monsoon period.
