KR orders safety nets on all slopes

Over the past five years, over Rs 60 crore has been spent on reinforcing nets covering the laterite slopes on both sides of the 760-km-long track. Inclinometers too have been placed at 200 spots for early warnings of soil disturbances.

An inclinometer is buried near the tracks to detect even the slightest of landslides, and eventually triggers off the ‘Raksha Dhaga’ alarm system that not only raises a sound alarm, but also triggers off the Anti-Collision Device (ACD) in an approaching train.

Konkan Railway MD, B. Rajaram, had also informed Express a few days before the accident that in addition to the extensive ACDs fitted in locomotives, level-crossings and on vulnerable slopes, about 250 railway guards would also patrol the danger zones.

However, none of these measures were implemented at the site where the accident took place. Divisional Railway Manager of the Ratnagiri zone, Shyam Sundar, admitted there was no inclinometer at the approach to the Ambovali bridge.

There was no linesman at Ambovali either, when the train hurled past at over 80 kmph in the rain on June 16.

Speaking at a press meet on Thursday, Rajaram said the Konkan Railway has now decided to provide safety nets on all rock slopes over five metres high, impose a restriction of 75 km per hour on all trains, and deploy 600 patrolmen across all vulnerable sections.

‘‘A pilot engine would run before each passenger train to check out track condition till such time as the safety nets are in place,’’ he added. ‘‘I do not think the work will be completed by this monsoon.’’

Dr V. Subramanyan, former IIT-Bombay professor and member of the BMC’s Disaster Management Plan, said another way to deal with terrain problems will be to identify and remove loose rocks.