Cattle hit incidents: Metal fencing work along Mumbai-Ahmedabad route begins

To prevent cattle runover incidents the Western Railway WR has commenced work of erecting metal barriers along the more than 620kmlong MumbaiAhmedabad trunk route its chief spokesperson said on WednesdaySumit Thakur chief spokesperson of WR told PTI that the work of erecting metal beam fencing on the busy route has commenced on the AnkleshwarBharuch section under the Vadodara division and it is going on in full swingAfter multiple cattle hit incidents involving the prestigious Vande Bharat Express between Mumbai and Gandhinagar launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 30 last year WR had decided to install metal fences along the route to stop animals from straying onto the tracksThakur said the metal fencing will cover a length of 622 km and the entire project will cost Rs 24526 croreIn all eight tenders have been awarded and the fencing work is progressing in full swing The work is expected to be completed in the next 4 to 5 months the WR chief spokesperson saidOnce completed the project will help in preventing cattle runover incidents and ensure smooth movement of trains he saidAccording to the Mumbaiheadquartered WR they are using guardrails made of steel instead of building concrete walls for the fencing workThe fencing is very robust as it consists of two Wbeams that stand for wide flanges which are thicker that aid in resisting bend stress it saidAlso Read Mumbai Know the roads to avoid and traffic diversions for Republic Day paradeSuch fencing is used alongside highways and expressways especially at accidentprone areas to provide protection to vehicles as well as pedestrians the Railway administration pointed outWR said cattle run over incidents adversely affect rail operations increase the possibility of accidents and cause loss to Railway property Such incidents also endanger the lives of cattle and cause financial loss to their ownersThakur said in the meantime Railway Protection Force RPF personnel under the Mumbai Division have identified vulnerable locations and carried out frequent awareness and sensitization campaigns to prevent cattle hit incidentsBesides RPF has conducted meetings with sarpanches of all villages located in the vicinity of railway tracks Thakur saidWestern Railway has appealed to cattle owners and grazers to not let their domesticated animals come near the railway tracksThis 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