Vande Bharat: WR to spend Rs 264 cr to build fences along Mumbai-Ahmedabad route

The Western Railway WR has said it would install fences along the MumbaiAhmedabad route by May next year to stop animals from straying onto the tracks and getting run over by trains a move coming in the backdrop of the prestigious Vande Bharat Express hitting cattle four times since its launch on September 30Addressing a press conference at the railway zones headquarters at Churchgate here on Friday WR General Manager Ashok Kumar Misra said tenders have been invited for the construction of the fences on the 620kilometrelong route which is expected to cost Rs 264 croreThe third semi highspeed Vande Bharat Express flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 30 between Gandhinagar in Gujarat and the countrys financial capital has hit cattle four times so far leading to minor damage to the aerodynamic nose of the stateoftheart rakeAlso Read Shraddha Walkar murder case Aftab used Chinese chopper reveals narco testThe latest incident occurred between Udvada and Vapi stations in Gujarat on Thursday eveningAccording to Western Railway officials the stainless steel fences will be a wbeam structure at a height of 15 metres from the groundWe are going to install it wbeam at a height of 15 meters The advantage is that people can cross it but not animals Misra explainedHe said Railway staffers as well as personnel from the Railway Protection Force are visiting villages along the tracks to speak to people in order to overcome the problem of cattle straying into the way of trainsThe aerodynamic design of the nose ensures animals dont get tangled in the underbelly of the rake after such crashes Misra saidWR chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said the Vande Bharat service was running with an average occupancy of 130 per cent and has become tremendously popular with passengersMeanwhile Misra said WR has received two extra airconditioned suburban trains though he did give a date when these will be introducedAt present 79 of the 1383 suburban services operated by WR in Mumbai are airconditioned onesWR officials said the number of daily average passengers stood at 2568 lakh so far in 202223 while it was 1512 lakh in 202122 772 lakh in 202021 both coronavirusaffected years 3487 lakh in 201920 and 3544 lakh in 201819The dip in passengers when compared to preCOVID19 levels was mainly due to employees moving to work from home mode and shift of offices from south Mumbai to the BandraKurla Complex BKC in suburban Mumbai Misra said adding WR was thinking of increasing services as per the changed travel patternsQueried on shift in suburban travel patterns Misra said there was no strong possibility of many passengers moving onto personal vehicles though he agreed some may opt for metro railHowever data on the number of people shifting from WRs suburban network to the metro rail system was not available he addedUpdating on the construction of the Delisle bridge over the tracks at Lower Parel Misra said the portion above railway territory will be completed by January 2023The General Manager said WR had handed over the structure to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC for further work in the civic bodys jurisdictionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever