BELAGAVI
While thousands of cement sleepers connecting the railway tracks are replaced every year as part of safety measures and get wasted, the South Western Railways (SWR) has hit upon an innovative way to put these redundant concrete sleepers into good use along the ghat section between Castle Rock and Dudh Sagar.
The used cement sleepers have come in handy to help maintenance staff moving on foot along the steep section of the Braganza ghats.
“About 10,000 of these sleepers have been used to cover about 12 kms, making it easy for loco pilots and night patrolling men. In addition, these sleepers have been used to many other purposes of loading-unloading train trolleys, etc.,” the Chief PRO SWR said.
Scrapped cement sleepers are also used to construct side drains in tunnels preventing track ballast from falling into the drains and allows free flow of rain water during the monsoons.
Using of scrapped sleepers and rails is a very cost effective and time saving methodology. This all-weather road will allow rainwater to seep through during rainy season and also prevent movement of wild animals from entering the track area and ensure safe train movements.
The work has been executed in the challenging section in tough weather by a team headed by Senior Divisional Engineer (West) Neeraj Bapnas, Hubballi Division under the guidance of Principal Chief Engineer Vipul Kumar and Divisional Railway Manager, Arvind Malkhede, Hubballi.
SWR GM A K Singh has lauded this innovative and cost-saving effort of his team.
