Railway Board issues instructions to General Managers to ensure safety of tracks

After the tragic triple-train accident in Odisha’s Balasore that claimed 288 lives, the Railway Board on Friday directed all the General Managers to ensure safety and reliability of assets and regular maintenance of infrastructure.

In a letter to all the general managers of all zones, the Railway Board laid down a set of guidelines to be followed strictly to emphasise safety during day-to-day working and while carrying out special renewal works.

The Board highlighted that the field officials must ensure that they spend maximum time on maintenance and work sites. Furthermore, the Board advised the zonals to have division-wise list with PCE for monitoring the compliance and the summary of the items requiring compliance. Later, the action taken should be advised to the Railway Board, on weekly basis.

The PHODs/HODs have been directed to carry out inspection covering all aspects of maintenance/worksite and guide JEs/SSEs for safe execution of the work. 

The Board advised JEs/SSEs to not adopt any shortcuts while carrying out any work and to ensure that all the worksites are protected with necessary caution board, safety boards, TP, TG, banner flag and hand signals.

Moreover, works of doubling, and tripling should be regularly inspected by Open Line officials to ensure a safe working and prevent infringement to track. The vulnerable locations such as points and crossings, SEJ, and Bridges approaches of Girder Bridges require regular inspection and maintenance.

The Board also directed all the senior officials to spend time in the field, carry out checks and guide JEs/SSEs to ensure proper USFD testing.