Slow progress of the renewal of rails and sleepers with urgent maintenance activities in the network is affecting the safety and punctuality of trains.
Mounting incidents of derailments, though minor, and inordinate delay of all trains is a matter of concern for Thiruvananapuram and Palakkad division authorities.
Delay in completing the renewal of rail and sleepers due to the monsoon, inability to impose the needed line block to take up the works due to saturation of traffic and unscientific sanctioning of stoppages had put the Railways in the dock and was inviting the ire of the commuters, said railways officials
Against a target of 168 km Through Rail Renewal with 60 kg rails in Thiruvananthapuram division for this fiscal, only 41.764 km had been completed so far. In the case of Through Rail Renewal with 52 kg rails, work of 33.9 km had been completed against the target of 67 km.
Only 16.06 km of Ballast Screening had been completed against the target of 130 km. In the case of greasing of rail seats, work had been completed only in 94.50 km against the target of 480 km. Of the ₹153 crore sanctioned, works had been completed only for ₹26 crore.
The target given could be achieved only if one km of track renewal was carried out daily. For completing one km of track renewal, five to six hours of line block was needed and this was impossible in the State, said the officials.
Renewal of rail and sleeper was going on along the Kottayam-Ernakulam and Shoranur-Ernakulam corridors at present. The Railways have engaged state-of-the-art track relaying train (TRT) imported from the US for track renewals and to expedite the works.
“We are carrying out the works with limited period line block of 90 minutes to two hours and five hours on Sundays. Trains can move along only after 30 minutes after welding works are executed to join railway track,” the official said.
The Railways target of rail renewal of 102 km and 139 km and sleeper renewal of 106 km and 77 km given to Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad respectively for 2017-18 as part of enhancing safety has also been missed.
Officials said they were confused on whether safety or punctuality was to be given priority. The improvement in the condition of railway track in the State after the works will reflect on the punctuality of trains, they said.
