Waltair railway division upgraded with 80 cr

Visakhapatnam: Divisional Railway Manager Mukul Saran Mathur said that Rs 70 to Rs 80 crore expenditure was spent on Waltair railway division during the last seven months for the safety related modernisation and development works.

According to a press release issues here on Friday, in Waltair division, due to a rapid rise in footfall at Visakhapatnam railway station, renovation works of Central Foot-over-Bridge were carried out to increase the width.

As committed, Phase I of central FoB at Visakhapatnam connecting Platform No, 8 to 4,5,6,7 has been completed before the deadline of December 31. The remaining work will be completed before March 31, 2018. One escalator at platform No. 4/ 5 is made functional.

With regard to the safety, the closure of the level crossing gates, mainly the un-manned ones, was a major task. This year, the division has closed 24 level crossing gates in the Waltair Division except on Koraput to Rayagada line. The Global Positioning System (GPS) was provided to inspection trolleys to track the vehicle for safety.

Recently, the Waltair Division took the initiative to introduce a GPS tracker to the patrolling men, who usually patrol the railway track in the night, which will be useful for reliability of patrolling as well as for alertness of the rail defaults in a better possible way. Presently, around 450 patrolmen are working round-the-clock in the division and around 400 such instruments will be provided in a phased manner.

In order to provide better safety, track renewals works were taken up in a phased manner, 200 switches were replaced where the worn-out is more predominant than normal track. Twenty high availability axle counters were deployed which will enhance the safety of the train movement.