GUWAHATI: The onset of winter brings in unforeseen and unexpected safety hazards in the form of fracture of rails and reduction in visibility due to fog. Northeast Frontier Railway has geared up to meet the challenges and has taken several initiatives.
In order to detect and repair fracture of rails owing to wide fluctuation of day and night temperatures, a number of Ultra-sonic Fault Detector (USFD) machines have been put into service. Officials and staff have been instructed to identify rail fracture or weld fracture-prone locations, analyse reason for such fracture and plan preventive actions. A close watch is being kept on rail temperature and Cold Weather Patrolling has been introduced with revised duty hours for Keymen and Patrolmen. At the same time examination and lubrication of rail joints and fish plates are also being done, the CPRO of the NF Railway, P J Sharma informed.
The cold weather Patrolmen are provided with 10 Fog Signals each, 2 Tri-colour hand signal lamps, One match box, 2 Red flags and one Green flag and one 3-Cell electric torch or Rechargeable Battery Torch. The sectional engineers responsible for maintenance of a section of tracks have been alerted to regularly analyse data received from Patrol teams and take immediate corrective measure to eliminate possibility of mishap.
