E-Paper
Cattle run over cases: Railways to build boundary walls on 1,000km stretch
The decision came following the recent cattle run over incidents involving the Vande Bharat Express train on Gandhinagar- Mumbai route
Following the recent cattle run over incidents involving the Vande Bharat Express train on Gandhinagar- Mumbai route, minister of railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said the government will be constructing boundary wall on a 1,000-km stretch in the coming six months to prevent such accidents in the future.
“We are working seriously on the issue of building boundary walls. We are looking at two different designs. While we have approved one, which is a sturdy wall, over the next five to six months, we plan to build 1,000 km of such walls across sections to determine if the design works,” Vaishnaw said, adding that the conventional boundary walls will not be able to solve the cattle run problem, but will end up affecting villagers around the area.
Data from the railways ministry shows that train losses due to cattle/ human run over incidents have increased this year as compared to the year before. While 2,115 train loss cases were reported in FY 2022, 2,650 have been reported in just six months; between April and October 2022.
“Cattle run overs (CORs) affected 200 mail/ express trains in the first nine days of October alone and over 4,000 trains have been affected by cattle run so far this year,” a railways official said. “Around 26,000 CORs were reported in FY 22,” he added.
A total of 2,688 passenger trains were operated in FY 22 while 4,187 of them were operated in the first quarter of FY 23,” the official said.
While the railways protection force (RPF) has been actively sensitising locals in Gujarat after the three CRO cases with the Vande Bharat Express train, issues related to cattle on tracks or CRO are not new to the railways. For instance, 116 coaches of a goods train had derailed in Punjab, in April this year, as the loco pilot had to apply emergency brakes after a herd of cattle came in the middle of the track.
Railway officials said that it is taking stringent action against the violators, whose cattle are found moving in railway land/area.
Data accessed by the paper showed that out of the total 2,650 train losses in the first half of FY 2023, northern railways alone had 1,000 train losses due to CRO or human run over (HRO) , followed by North Central Railways (NCR) with 717 cases that includes Allahabad, Jhansi and Agra railways division and South Central Railways (WCR) with 181 cases. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Shri Prakash, former member traffic of IR said, “The only solution to reduce CRO cases is by fencing. CRO cases are mostly observed in Northern states and is a serious issue not only for the losses it creates for the railways but also the threat it creates to the safety of passengers. In view of the railway’s planning of semi-high speed trains, it is essential to provide fencing of tracks to prevent cattle run over. In some places, particularly in the vicinity of urban areas, fencing has already started. This should be taken on priority to prevent such incidents.
