GUWAHATI, Nov 15 - The emphasis given on safety measures by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has resulted in �zero accidents� during the last financial year as well as for this fiscal, said the Maligaon-headquartered zone.
�There has been no consequential train accident (so far) during the year 2020-21 in view of the importance being given for ensuring safety of train movement. Last year was also an accident-free year for the NFR. This has been possible due to the overall emphasis given on maintaining the health of all train operation-related infrastructure in good condition and regular monitoring of the same throughout the jurisdiction of the zone,� NFR Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Subhanan Chanda said.
He said that the railway track is the most important aspect for safe movement of trains.
�As a result of train movement, wear and tear of tracks is bound to occur and renewal or replacement of track components is indispensable. During the current fiscal year, up to October, 73.68 units of Complete Track Renewal (CTR), i.e., changing of rails and sleepers, have been done as against 64.85 CTR units which was done up to October last year. This is an annual increase of 13.62 per cent,� Chanda said.
He added that �Ultrasound� testing is done by use of machines to detect unseen fractures of railway tracks, which might lead to accidents.
�This is known as ultrasonic flaw detection (USFD) testing of tracks. USFD testing of 1,762.31 km (of track length) was done during the month of October this year, as against 1368.54 km done during October 2019, which is an increase of 28.77 per cent. Deep screening or cleaning of ballast that lies beneath the railway tracks was done for 46 turnouts during the month of October 2020 against 12 turnouts done during October 2019. A total of 10 bridges were �rehabilitated� during the month of October this year, which took the cumulative number of such work done so far this fiscal year to 48 bridges,� said the NFR CPRO.
Packing of ballast beneath 354 points and crossings was done by UNIMAT machines during October and at 3,012 points cumulatively during the first seven months of this fiscal, as against a proportionate target of 1,867 points which had been fixed earlier.
Chanda added that NFR also completed 2,746 flash butt welding works of rail joints during the month of October this year, thus making a cumulative progress of 13,053 flash butt welds up to the last month of this fiscal. This was carried out to make the rail joints in tracks more secure.
�The increased emphasis given on safety measures through these activities have also led to increased speed of trains, including goods carrying trains, within the NFR zone,� he said.
