Acting on the directive from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) headquarters, the RPF authorities here have worked out a revised plan for escorting a set of long distance trains when they pass through the Tiruchi Division.
The trains to be escorted exclusively by RPF escort teams have been identified under this mechanism and conveyed to the Government Railway Police (GRP), Tiruchi.
As per the revised plan, the RPF authorities have chosen eight important daily trains on board, both in chord line and main line sections, for escort on both directions.
The trains are Chennai – Tiruchi – Chennai Rockfort Expresses, Guruvayur Expresses, Chennai –Thanjavur–Chennai Uzhavan Expresses, Chennai–Karaikudi– Chennai Pallavan Expresses, Chennai–Madurai– Chennai Vaigai Expresses, Chennai–Tenkasi–Chennai Podhigai Expresses and Chennai–Tiruchendur–Chennai Chendhur Expresses. The plan has been put in place with escort teams deployed in these trains.
In addition to some daily trains, escort would be provided to certain weekly and bi-weekly trains including the Rameswaram–Bhubaneswar, Tiruchi–Howrah, Puducherry–Mangalore, and New Delhi–Madurai Sampark Kranthi expresses, say RPF sources here.
The fresh plan has been worked out consequent to a directive from the RPF headquarters in New Delhi to make train escorting pattern effective. Containing a set of guidelines, the directive was circulated among Senior Divisional Security Commissioners / Divisional Security Commissioners of all railway divisions across the country to identify vulnerable trains and sections on which escort was required by coordinating with the GRP.
As per the directive, trains which were vulnerable to Indian Penal Code offences should be given priority to the GRP and those vulnerable to Railway Act offences for RPF escort. Consequent to the directive, RPF officers held a meeting with their GRP counterparts recently regarding the guidelines.
Sources said eight escort teams had been constituted with each party consisting of four personnel.
Four of these escort teams would be based in Tiruchi and two each in Villupuram and Thanjavur Junctions.
The team in-charges have now been provided with mobile phones with closed user group facility in addition to walkie-talkie sets for quicker communication.
Having worked out the revised plan, the RPF authorities here have conveyed their train escort arrangement to their Chennai and Madurai counterparts besides to the GRP, Tiruchi.
The sources said the train escort plan would be dynamic and change according to the requirements. The alertness of the escort teams would be verified by carrying out surprise checks by superior officers. The escort teams had been briefed about their duties, besides being told about the do’s and don’ts and the need to be courteous with passengers, the sources added.
