Indigenous cycle to help railway staff maintain tracks better

Designed and built by a team of experts, the invention promises to reduce the labour and stress faced by railway trackmen in the country

An indigenous and cost-effective unique track-cycle will help inspecting railway staff and trackmen in maintaining the rail tracks throughout the day.

Track-cycle in action. (HT photo)

Designed and built by a team of experts, led by assistant divisional engineer (line), Bhupesh Pandey and senior section engineer (PA) Abhay Kumar of engineering department of Prayagraj division, North Central Railway (NCR), the invention promises to drastically reduce the labour and stress faced by railway trackmen in the country.

Costing just Rs 3,000, this innovative rail-bicycle will help trackmen quickly travel on rail tracks for inspection, monitoring, and urgent repairs. It is convenient and can ferry two people at a time. It will also help in reducing response time to mitigate track issues, said officials.

The prototype of this special cycle was recently tested by the divisional regional manager (DRM) Amitabh and senior divisional engineer (coordination), Santosh Gupta, officials added.

PRO, Prayagraj division, Keshev Tripathi said that the track-cycle was made out of scrap. Experts joined two cycles side by side while modifying the ordinary cycle.

“Both the rear wheels of this cycle are similar to an ordinary cycle while the front frame is longer than the usual frame. The front wheel, made of Teflon, is made in such a way that it fits into the railway track and when the user pedals, it works like any other cycle,” explained the PRO.