SIRIPURAM

-Annual inspection between Macherla - Mangalagiri section

Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, South Central Railway undertook Annual Inspection of Macherla - Mangalagiri section of Guntur Division today i.e., 03rd March, 2021. He was accompanied by Shri R. Mohan Raja, Divisional Railway Manager, Guntur Division and other senior officials throughout the inspection.

The General Manager commenced the inspection at Macherla Railway Station and discussed o­n station developmental plans with the officials. He inspected track safety at curve, a minor bridge and Road Under Bridge (RUB) near Rentachintal. The General Manager conducted a thorough inspection between Macherla – Nadikude section where he inspected Level Crossing Gate No. 89 and interacted with the gatemen. He also inspected major bridges and Road Under Bridges (RUB) in this section.

At Nadikude Railway station, the General Manager inspected the passenger amenities, circulating area and discussed o­n station developmental plans with officials. He inaugurated the Hamalis room, Open air gym and Children’s park at Nadikude. The General Manager inspected the running room, Gang No. 2 and interacted with the gang men. He examined the facilities available at the Health Unit and planted saplings towards green environment. He visited the staff quarters where he interacted with the family members of the employees about the facilities provided. The General Manager inspected Road Under Bridge (RUB) between Nadikude and Tummalacheruvu section. He inspected Bellamkkonda Railway station and inaugurated the track-men tool cum rest room and also took part in tree plantation.

The General Manager inspected major bridge no. 48 and curve no. 11 o­n Dhulipallavagu between Reddigudem and Sattenapalle section. The General Manager inspected Sattenapalle Railway station, he examined the staff quarters, points & crossings and traction sub-station. He inaugurated an Open Gym and Children’s park at Sattenapalle. He inaugurated staff quarters of Piduguralla through video link. The General Manager carried out a speed test between Sattenapallle – Siripuram section. He inspected a Road Under Bridge (RUB) in Bandarupalle – Nallapadu section and carried out a speed test in Guntur – Mangalagiri section.

South Central Railway won appreciation from Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Railways for the best performance in closure of all Unmanned Level Crossings and record performance in Electrification of the track. Shri Suresh Angadi Channabasappa, Hon’ble Minister of State for Railways presented the certificates of appreciation to Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, South Central Railway during regional function of 64the Railway Week Awards held Ambala, Harayana. Shri Manohar Lal Khattar, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Harayana State and Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman Railway Board were present o­n the occasion.

Shri Gajanan Mallya presented the certificate of appreciation in recognition of closing the all UMLCs to Shri K.V. Siva Prasad, Principal Chief Engineer, SCR and Certificate of appreciation for record electrification to Shri A.A. Phadke, Principal Chief Electrical Engineer, SCR today i.e. 23rd July, 2019 at Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad.

Closure of UMLCs o­n Mission Mode:

South Central Railway was having 288 Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLC’s) as o­n 1st April 2017. A policy decision was taken by Ministry of Railways in 2017 to eliminate all UMLCs existing in the railway system. South Central Railway took up this challenging task o­n a mission mode, instead of manning all the Level Crossings (LCs) this railway took up the work of providing Limited Height Subway (LHS) or Road Under Bridge (RUB) at 180 LC locations.

As the work of providing LHS/RUB under running tracks is a daunting and time-consuming task, innovative methods were adopted to construct these LHS/RUBs o­n a fast track mode. Pre-Cast Box segments were used and inserted into the track near LC locations by deploying high capacity road cranes of 200 Tons capacity. To reduce the block time required for insertion of pre cast boxes, temporary steel girders were inserted beforehand with improved methodology so as to take up earth work excavation for placing the box segments in position. During the year 2017-18 and 2018-19 a total of 84 LHS and 96 RUBs were constructed. Balance Unmanned LCs were eliminated by other modes like manning, direct closure and diversion of traffic to nearest LCs. o­n account of the above efforts all unmanned LCs o­n South Central Railway were eliminated by October 2018 which include 151 LCs in year 2018-19 alone.

Record Electrification:

South Central Railway has taken to electrification of its network o­n a priority basis. The zone has lent a big push to electrification projects, targeting completion and commissioning of various projects during the last two years. A total length of 432 Route Kilometers has been electrified during the financial year of 2018-19.

The sections electrified during 2018-19 o­n South Central Railway are, the Obulavaripalli – Venkatachalam 87 Route Kilometers, Guntakal – Kalluru 38 Route Kilometers, Bellary – Guntakal 45 Route Kilometers, Siripuram – Pondugula 83 Route Kilometers, Kukkadam – Pagidipalli 102 Route Kilometers, Vishnupuram – Janpahad 08 Route Kilometers, Peddapalli – Gangadhara 55 Route Kilometers, Telapur – Ramachandrapuram 06 Route Kilometers.