Railway to identify vulnerable locations on suburban lines

After back-to-back disruption of traffic on suburban railway in Mumbai region, top railway officials today met and decided to identify the locations which are vulnerable.
General Manager of Western Railway and Central Railway G C Agrawal and Additional Member (Tourism, Catering and Infrastructure) of the Railway Board Girish Pillai reviewed recent incidents at a meeting with senior officials.
Speaking to the media later, Pillai said Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu was concerned about the Mumbai suburban train services as lakhs of people use them every day.
"Therefore we have decided to launch a special drive to identify all vulnerable locations where there is possibility of damage to railway property and infrastructure because of slum clusters alongside the tracks," he said.

Officials discussed the incidents of train traffic disruption at Lower Parel and Vasai Road on the Western line and at Raoli and Vikhroli on the Central line.
A public awareness campaign will be launched with the help of RPF and others to educate the people living in the slums along the tracks about consequences of throwing and burning garbage on or near the tracks, Pillai told reporters.

The incident at Raoli on the harbour line was caused due to the burning of garbage near the signal box which damaged the cables, he said.
"A special drive for cleaning garbage heaps along the tracks will also be undertaken in the areas where it can present risk to train operations," said Pillai.

Corrective actions will be taken after ascertaining the reasons for the disruption, he added.