With the ongoing electrification of the entire main line of the Palakkad Division, the Southern Railways have said that it has spent ₹150 crore on renewal and maintenance of tracks this year.
Nearly 77 km of sleepers have been renewed, and 90 km of 60 kg rails have been put in place of old 52 kg rails this fiscal, in accordance with the Railway Board policy(60 kg rail weighs 60 kg per metre as against 52 kg per metre of old rails).
To improve running through stations, even points and crossings, which are used for changing tracks, are being upgraded to 60 kg section. As many as 13 points and crossings have been changed to 60 kg in the yards of Tikkodi, Koyilandy and Thalassery (downline) and Elattur (upline). Officials said since these works are chargeable to the newly created fund of ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ (RRSK), money is available for track works.
Higher target next year
The target for next year is higher than that of this year — 170 km of rail renewal and 120 km of sleeper renewal.
Advanced track machines like track relaying train, which can renew rail and sleeper to the extent of one km a day in a traffic block of five hours, has been deployed for 50 days. A new Simplex Quick Relaying System (SQRS) was also commissioned in November 2017, and it can lay around 400 metres in a traffic block of three hours.
One more unit of SQRS will be commissioned in the first week of April. Speed restrictions imposed in the Kozhikode-Kannur section owing to corrosion of rails too have been removed after relaying, they said. Another major maintenance activity is the mechanised screening of complete stone ballast. Around 120 km of ballast has been screened along with36 points and crossings. Screening of ballast on platform lines, including vulnerable locations, at Payyoli, Iringal and Mahe stations have also been completed.
