Will fence track by 2024, say Western Railway on Vande Bharat-buffaloes collision

The railway will also build a fence along the tracks to avoid accidents, described as the only way to prevent accidents involving a herd of buffaloes on the tracks on Thursday

NEW DELHI: Western Railway staffers will reach out to villagers living in the vicinity of the Ahmedabad- Mumbai tracks to counsel them to not let their cattle wander near the tracks in view of the accident involving the Vande Bharat Express on Thursday.

Mumbai Central-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Express train after its nose cone was replaced by railway authorities, in Mumbai, Friday. The nose of the newly-launched train had suffered damage after it hit a herd of buffaloes near Ahmedabad on Thursday. (PTI)

The railway will also build a fence along the tracks on the route to avoid accidents, described as the only way to prevent accidents involving a herd of buffaloes on the tracks on Thursday. Three buffaloes were killed in the accident which damaged the Nose Cone Cover of the driver coach.

“We aim to begin fencing work and complete it by 2024 to avoid such accidents in future,” a railway official said.

The local staff has been asked to counsel the villagers on a daily basis. “The sarpanch of the villages has also been called to discuss the issue,” the official told HT.

Another official said that there are settlements on both sides of the tracks where the Bande Bharat train hit the buffaloes. The Gujarat Police has filed a case of negligence for letting the cattle wander on the tracks but no one has claimed them yet.

The front portion of the train was damaged after it hit some buffaloes between Gairatpur and Vatva stations around 11.15am on Thursday.

“Vital parts of the train remained unaffected from the impact, however, due to the hit, nose cone cover of the driver coach was damaged with its mounting brackets,” western railway (WR) chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said.

“The nose cover is designed to absorb the impact without transmitting the same to the functional parts of the train. Therefore, it is sacrificial by design and hence replaceble. Railway keeps sufficient nose-cones as spare. It was replaced with a new one in Mumbai Central depot in no time during the maintenance and the train is put back to service,” Thakur said.