ALER

NF Railway has taken precautions to deal with any kind of untoward incident during the upcoming monsoon season. The mobilization was carried out in the last few months over the entire jurisdiction of N F Railway having more than 6400 km of railway tracks spreading over parts of West Bengal, Bihar and the north-eastern states like Assam, Tripura, Manipur etc under the jurisdiction of NF Railway.

The monsoon season is quite challenging for this railway. This Railway serves a difficult terrain close to foothills of Lower Himalayan ranges, carved by turbulent streams, fed by heaviest rainfall reaching up to about 7000 mm in a year. The Southwest monsoon period normally starts from mid of May and continues till mid of October every year except in the Lumding division where the monsoon period starts from mid of April. Due to this heavy rainfall landslides, rain cuts in embankments, overflowing of bridges etc occur frequently. A detailed strategy is adopted to ensure that the tracks are protected and kept in good condition so that safety of passengers is not compromised.

For this, NFR has formulated a detailed strategy for the safety of railway tracks. As part of preparations before the monsoon collection of materials at sensitive places, cleaning drainage systems, cleaning of waterways of bridges, marking danger levels in bridges etc. have been completed. While all preventive measures have been taken, NFR has also deployed patrolling teams to continuously watch more than 6400 Km of tracks in its jurisdiction for any defect that may arise due to heavy rainfall. Patrols have been deployed to keep the railway tracks safe. This team patrols the track o­n the basis of rainfall alert issued by the Meteorological Department. These patrolmen are equipped with the latest and state-of-the-art equipment i.e. GPS tracker, luminous jacket, raincoat, and separate waterproof trousers, safety helmet, safety shoe high, powerful search/flashlights etc. The team is o­n full track patrol round the clock. Mobile phones have been made available with each patrol team to provide information to the nearest station about any situation that may affect the normal movement of trains. In addition to patrols, stationary watchmen have also been appointed o­n sensitive areas i.e. sites prone to landslides, bridges where water is flowing near danger levels etc.

Despite precautions, there are occasion when bridges are washed out, embankments are breached and landslides occur. To face such situation and to carry out restoration within minimum possible time, materials like boulders, sand, sandbags, various pre-fabricated components of bridges etc. are kept loaded in wagons and placed at strategic locations. More than 7000 cum of boulders, stones etc are kept loaded in wagons at various locations to meet any emergency requirement. Moreover, about 27,300 cum of boulder, 12600 cum of quarry dust and 3000 cum of silt are kept as monsoon reserve stock o­n ground.

It is hard to predict and avoid natural calamity, but NFR is fully prepared to face the challenges posed by very heavy rainfall in this region during monsoon so as to ensure all-weather connectivity and safety of our esteemed passengers.

South Central Railway RPF Constable, Kum. Sarla has been awarded with "Wardi Nahi Ye Kaal Hai" Citizen’s Gallant Warrior Award, 2023 at the hands of former Hon’ble president of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind at Dr. Ambedkar International Center, New Delhi o­n 11^th May, 2023. She is presently working as Constable of Railway Protection Force (RPF), Nizamabad Post.

              She has been awarded with this prestigious award due to the timely action taken by her in rescuing rail passengers. o­n o­ne occasion, at about 11.08 hrs o­n 9^th March 2022, o­ne lady passenger lost her balance out and fell down in the gap between the platform and the train, when she tried to de-board Train No.17057 Devagiri Express while it was entering o­nto Platform No. 1 of Nizamabad railway station. Noticing the precarious situation of the lady passenger, Kum. Sarla reacted swiftly and pulled the lady passenger her back o­n the platform without any loss or injury to the passenger. 

              In another instance, at about 20:00 hrs o­n 19^th September, 2022 the Kum. Sarla again rescued another lady passenger at Nizamabad railway station. The lady passenger had come to the station intending to travel by Train No. 16004. However, instead the passenger boarded another train, realizing which she tried to get down from the running train. This action by the passenger led to her falling in the gap between train and the platform. o­n seeing this, immediately Kum. Sarla came to her to rescue along with another Constable, thereby saving the precious life of the lady passenger.