The Indian Railways will soon be writing to all state governments for removal of all unauthorised construction near railway tracks
In a bid to reduce train accidents, the Indian Railways has decided to come down hard on unauthorised construction near railway tracks. The decision was taken on Thursday by Minister of State for Railways, Rajen Gohain after he conducted a safety review meeting with senior officials in the railways in wake of the recent Kanpur train accident. The Indian Railways will soon be writing to all state governments for removal of all unauthorised construction near railway tracks, sources said.
The meeting was attended by not just top officials of the railway board but ground staff of six railway zones were also roped in for this meeting. Of the total 17 railway zones, these six zones - East-Central, Eastern, South-East-Central, East-Coast, North-East Frontier and Southern - were roped in for the safety review meeting. A senior official from the railways said that of late, maximum safety issues have been raised from these six railway zones. He, however, added that railways will conduct similar safety review meetings with other zones too in the coming days.
The MoS (railways) took the decision after trackmen and keymen apprised the minister of safety issues that arise due to presence of unauthorised construction near railway tracks. Officials, who attended the meeting, said that trackmen expressed concerns over maintenance of railway tracks due to presence of unauthorised constructions, mostly slums, close to railway tracks.
According to prelimnary probe of the recent Kanpur train accident, the accident was caused due to rail fracture. Poor track maintenance including lack of proper fittings and ballast on the railway lines causes fracture on the tracks. While a simple crack on track may not be of much concern, a severe fracture causing separation of the track can lead to derailment of trains.
Railways have approximately 4.31 hectares of land and presently, there are about 1 lakh encroachments on railway land across the country. 879.48 hectares of total land holding, are under encroachment. MoS railways Gohain, in a written reply to Lok Sabha on November 23, said that 206.37 hectares of railway land have been encroached in the Northern Zone, followed by 156.17 hectares in South Eastern Zone and 106.25 hectares in Northeast Frontier Zone.
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