Western Railway completes metal fencing on 357 route kilometres between Mumbai and Ahmedabad

Western Railway has completed the work of erecting metal fencing on 357 route kilometres between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, helping reduce cases of cattle being run over by trains, according to official data accessed by PTI.

Railway zone began the work around January this year in order to curb incidents of cattle being run over by trains in the busy section, in which the semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express also runs.

Between March and May last year, there have been 75 incidents of cattle being run over in this section. The number came down to 55 during the same period this year, the data shows.

According to the data, fencing has been completed in 150 route kilometres (RKM) in the Mumbai Central division, 175 RKM in the Vadodara division and 31 RKM in the Ahmedabad division. The Western Railway plans to construct metal barrier on 623 RKM at a cost of approximately Rs 245 crore.

The fence is made of metal and very robust as it consists of two W-beams. A W-beam type stands for broad flanges, which are thicker, that aid in resisting bend stress. Such fencing is used in highways and expressways, especially accident-prone areas to provide protection to vehicles as well as pedestrians.

Besides Vande Bharat Express, other mail and express trains would also benefit from the fencing work as the train operation in the section will become hassle-free, officials said. The railways has been planning to erect fencing on key routes in the rail network, specially sections where cases of cattle being run over occur predominantly.

The other stretches requiring fencing include those in the North Central Railway, which covers 3,000 km of tracks and hosts parts of the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors, and the Northern Railway.