The Mysuru division of South Western Railway had an accident-free record in the past financial year (2016-17) and the thrust was on safety of operations, said Atul Gupta, Divisional Railway Manager, SWR, Mysuru.
He was speaking at the Independence Day celebrations organised by the Railways in the city on Tuesday. Highlighting a few measures initiated to shore up safety, Mr. Gupta said the division has reaffirmed its commitment to zero tolerance on accidents.
The accident-free record during the last financial year — barring a couple of minor incidents not involving rail users or property — was mainly because of the elimination of unmanned level crossings, where a majority of mishaps used to occur, leading to a high number of fatalities and seriously impeding punctual operation of services, Mr. Gupta said.
On the division’s financial performance, he said originating revenue (till the end of July 2017) stood at ₹205.73 crore, as against ₹185.98 crore in the corresponding period last year — a healthy growth of 10.62%.
The division had transported 1.535 million tonnes of goods till July this year, as compared to 1.27 million tonnes in the corresponding period last fiscal — an increment of 20.87%. On the matter of punctuality of trains — passenger as well as express — Mr. Gupta said the division stands second-best in India at over 98%.
New trains
He said the division has introduced a few new train services despite operational constraints. The commissioning of the new broad gauge line from Nelamangala and Shravanabelagola has decongested the trunk route, with significant reduction in travel time between Bengaluru and Mangaluru.
Mr. Rao also said that in terms of cleanliness, the division was in the top 10 of Indian Railways, and that regular drives were conducted to spread awareness among rail users on sanitation. The Railways will also observe a cleanliness fortnight from August 16 to 31 following directives from the Ministry of Railways.
