Update from SCR FB page,not my own
Date: 18th November, 2015
Massive Restoration Work Leads to Rail Lines becoming Operational on Vijayawada-Gudur-Chennai; Gudur-Renigunta and Renigunta-Gooty Sectors.
General Manager/SCR oversees restoration works at dislocation spots till normalcy returns
Shri...
more... Ravindra Gupta, General Manager, South Central Railway air dashed to Tirupati yesterday evening immediately after holding a emergency high level crisis management meeting to personally inspect the damaged rail sections and monitor restoration works on Guntakal Division, in the wake of disruption to rail traffic, for the past three days due to heavy rains.
The sections which were affected due to heavy rains on SCR jurisdiction are Vendodu-Kondagunta and Yellakaru-Venkatagiri stretches of Gudur-Renigunta Section; Nandaluru-Mantapampalli stretch of Renigunta-Gooty Section; Gudur-Manubolu stretch of Gudur-Nellore Section. Besides the Tada-Sulurupeta stretch of Gudur-Chennai Section of Southern Railway also bore the brunt of heavy rains.
The restoration work taken up by South Central Railway on a massive scale led to making the rail sections of Gudur-Renigunta, Renigunty-Gooty and Gudur-Nellore operational in a record time. This enabled commencing the run of trains on these critical sections which connects the South-North/East/West corridors of the country, thereby bringing a sense of relief to thousands of stranded passengers of trains which were regulated at various places in those sections. Shri Ravindra Gupta, General Manager, South Central Railway spearheaded the restoration work by staying put at the work spots all through till the running of train services commenced.
The scale of massive restoration work undertaken is as follows:-
The Disaster Control Room was made operational round the clock at Rail Nilayam, the SCR headquarters. The set up was manned by officers from various departments to ensure coordinated crisis management who were continuously briefing the General Manager and acting on his instructions with regard to relief and restoration measures.
The core strategy was to sanitize the dislocated sections by pre emptive stoppage of trains as a precautionary measure, thereby ensuring no compromise on safety of passengers.
The long distance trains which were on run were suitably stabled at such major stations where adequate facilities are provided, in some situations by reversing the trains on move.
55 officers were deputed from the Engineering, Electrical, Mechanical, Signal & Telecom, Operating and Commercial departments, assigned with the task of supervising the restoration and relief measures at identified locations/stations. Over 750 personal was rushed from various places to the affected spots to undertake restoration works. They included technical and skilled railway staff as well as a huge number of Gangmen besides labor on contract.
Heavy earthmoving machinery was rushed to work spots, braving the bad condition of roads and access to the actual locations. These included JCB’s, Tippers, Unimat tamping machines which were pressed into service.
Mobile high capacity Diesel Generators, Power Cars, Tower Cars etc., were put to use for undertaking restoration work and to ensure adequate lighting at the work spots.
12600 gunny bags of sand, 4,600 cubic metres of ballast, boulders, cement, quarry dust etc., was also transported to the work spots for plugging the breached bank slips and strengthening the embankments at all the affected locations.
Passenger care was a priority area all through the relief and restoration period. Catering arrangements were extensively made at all required locations to provide free food to all the stranded passengers of trains which got regulated at various places.
Beverages, particularly hot milk etc., was continuously made available to serve the needs of infant babies, children, senior citizens amongst the stranded passengers.
Security arrangements were comprehensively done to take care of the passengers and their belongings by deployment of 120 Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel including women constables.
Keeping in view the bleak weather conditions and abnormal delay of trains, Railway Doctors were deployed at major stations in the affected sections to take care of any health issues that arise amongst passengers.
Dedicated phone helpline numbers were set up at various major railway stations to function round the clock until total normalcy of rail operations is restored.
Extensive publicity was undertaken through print media, electronic media, social media including SCRs website, facebook, twitter etc., to highlight dislocation of train services in affected sections, restoration measures as well as provision of helpline numbers to access for information.
A priority passenger amenity area to serve the needs of stranded passengers was provision of adequate drinking water. While the drinking water outlets at stations met the purpose, wherever required packaged drinking water were supplied for free to stranded passengers.
To meet the needs of stranded passengers in trains and at stations arrangements were made to ensure continuous supply of water including in coaches wherever possible by utilizing water arrangements available at identified stations.
Total Hygiene and Cleanliness in trains regulated in the sections and at railway stations was yet another priority area. Sizeable manpower was deputed to ensure the same by means of specific instructions to the contractors handling the task.
Additional counters were opened and adequate ticket checking personnel were posted to facilitate cancellation/refund on reserved tickets in view of delay/dislocation of train services.
As a result of this one of the biggest restoration works undertaken on SCR, train services were restored on one line between Vendodu-Kondagunta & on both the lines on Venkatagiri-Yellakaru of Gudur-Renigunta section; on both the lines between Guduru-Manubolu of Gudur-Nellore section and on one line between Nandaluru-Mantapampalli of Renigunta-Gooty section by evening of 17th November, 2015.
