Railways develops special metal fencing to tackle cattle on tracks menace

The Indian Railways has developed a new metal fencing to tackle the problem of cattle and two-wheelers crossing over to train tracks. The gaps from the ground level and between the two beams have been designed in such a way in the new W-Beam metal fence that cattle or two-wheelers cannot cross it and move over to the tracks, officials said.

While raising the speed of trains is a priority for the Indian Railways, the operation of trains beyond 110 kmph necessitates provision of safety fencing all along the track to avoid any infringement to moving trains, especially by animals and two wheelers.

An old practice of construction of fencing at railway boundaries was not, at times, found effective in preventing cases of cattle run over by trains.

Thus, a need was felt for development of effective fencing along the track which can arrest cases of crossing of tracks by cattle and two-wheelers etc., the officials said.

In this direction, after thorough deliberation, W-Beam type metal fencing has been developed and being provided on Ahmedabad-Mumbai route, where sectional speed is being raised to 160 kmph, they said.

Other zonal Railways have also been advised to provide this metal fencing up to 100 km on each of the divisions on New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah routes planned for 160 kmph.

Till date, 6,547 km of fencing has been done.

Besides, provision is also being made for pedestrian subways to allow crossing of cattle, two-wheelers and pedestrians at identified locations, the officials said.

They also explained in detail the finalisation of the latest version of Automatic Train Protection system, Kavach 4.0, with its design being made suitable to work across the vast diversity of the Indian Railways -- from desert to mountains, from forests to coasts and from cities to villages.

The officials further said that the number of accidents has seen a sharp decline in recent years due to various measures that have been put in place by the railways.

An average of 2.6 accidents per day was recorded during 2012-14, which has come down to 0.5 (1 accident in 2 days) during 2022-24m they said.

Sharing year-wise data of derailments and accidents, the officials said that there were 49 yard derailments and 40 main line accidents in the year 2023-24, while these numbers stood at 42 and 48 respectively in 2022-23.

In comparison, 263 yard derailments and 118 main line accidents were recorded in 2013-14, while these numbers stood even higher at 442 and 122 respectively in 2012-13.