Making good use of the low traffic period during the lockdown, Western Railway has completed several infrastructure renewal and maintenance works, says the zone in a statement.
During the financial year 2020-21, Western Railway commissioned 41.7 km of new lines and 93.79 km of doubling work. Besides, 91.92 km of gauge conversion was completed. One key achievement was the commissioning of the Pratapnagar – Dabhoi – Kevadiya electrified line to provide connectivity to the Statue of Unity at Kevadiya. The project was completed within a record time of 28 months in spite of various challenges.
Capacity Enhancement Work
Two critical projects are in progress in Western Railway; Viramgam – Samakhiyali Doubling and Vatva – Ahmedabad 3rd Line. In the Viramgam – Samakhiyali doubling project, 71.58 Kms has been commissioned in 2020-21.
Out of four critical projects, two were targeted for part commissioning in 2020-21. In Ahmedabad – Mahesana GC Project, 18.18 km has been commissioned. For the Palanpur -Samakhiyali doubling project, 44.73 km has been commissioned. In the Ratlam – Mhow – Khandwa gauge conversion project, being monitored on Pragati Platform, 34.00 km has been commissioned in 2020-21.
Western Railway has also increased the maximum permissible speeds on the Mumbai Central – Godhra – Nagda and Vadodara – Ahmedabad routes to 130 kmph.
All these projects were commissioned in spite of major constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, restriction on movement of man & material and prolonged heavy rainfall in monsoon.
In the financial year 2020 – 21, major projects totalling 227.41 kms have been completed.
Electrification
Western Railway completed 579 route kilometres of electrification work in FY 2020-21. This is the second-highest over Indian Railways for the year. The zone now has 3,128 RKM of electrified lines out of the total 4,989 route kilometres of railway lines with the zone.
During the year 2020 – 21, WR spent Rs. 63.73 crores under the Plan Head – Other Electrical Works including TRD, which is the highest ever booking made by WR.
On 10th June 2020, Western Rly also created a record by running the first electric double-stack container goods train (KIIP/PPSP) from Palanpur to Botad. The train ran under High Rise OHE that has a contact wire height of 7.57m, the highest in the world.
As a result, electric traction was introduced on Rajkot and Bhavnagar divisions of WR. Similarly, electrification of the 200 kilometres Ratlam – Chittaurgarh – Chanderiya section was also commissioned. Work was completed in just 18 months including the lockdown period of six months from April 2020 to Sep 2020. Commissioning of 25 kV OHE of Dabhoi – Badoli (37 RKM) and Anand – Khambat (52 RKM) section was completed. The work for electrification was sanctioned in May 2019 & CRS inspection was done on 27th March 2021.
Passenger Amenities
According to WR CPRO Sumit Thakur, 16 Foot Over Bridges were dismantled and 13 were rebuilt against the safety audit report. The zone also dismantled five FOBs based on internal inspection.
In all, 28 FOBs, 23 Road Over Bridges & 81 new Road Under Bridges were constructed. With these, 125 manned level crossings were eliminated. Another 26 level crossing gates were interlocked and sliding booms were provided at 60 locations.
Soft up-gradation of Vadodara, Bhavnagar, Nandurbar & Ratlam station buildings was also completed in 2020-21.
Streamlining Train Movements, Strengthening Bridges
35 stations received the latest signalling gear in the form of Electronic Interlocking systems. The zone also removed 19 permanent speed restrictions and gained a total time saving of 15 to 28 minutes. This will lead to improved line capacity. One such improvement was the removal of permanent speed restrictions on the Bandra – Khar stretch of the Mumbai suburban section.
Yard Remodelling: WR ranked first all over IR with improvements made to 113 layouts in 48 yards, including Vadodara & Sabarmati yards, during the year. This will streamline direct movement of trains reduce detention.
Western Railway has rehabilitated or rebuilt 92 bridges in the financial year 2020 – 21. One of the most important of these was re-girdering of Bridge No. 20 (7 spans of 9.15 m) on the suburban section of Mumbai. The work was completed in single traffic and power block. During the year 2020-21, the zone also conducted safety audits for ROBs, FOBs & bridges.
Innovations, Digital Initiatives
Major Innovations
W. Rly has developed various innovative technologies to expedite the engineering works and also to bring down the cost. WR has developed an innovative geo-cell arrangement for strengthening bridge approaches, has designed a PSC concrete boundary wall instead of RCC concrete wall and developed Telescopic posts for erecting Engineering indicators.
Boost to Digital Initiatives
In a major impetus to digital initiatives, W. Rly has switched to implementation of works on e – platforms such a e- DAS, Works Contract Management System (WCMS) & E – office. W. Rly has accomplished the achievement of being the best amongst all Railways in implementation of these digital inititives.
Commissioning of major Workshops
Western Railway’s new Centralized Track Machine Overhauling Workshop (CPOH) was commissioned at Ahmedabad. This workshop will drastically reduce the transit time of track machines coming for Periodic Overhaul from not just WR but also CR, NWR and WCR. The new workshop will boost the availability and productivity of track machines with an increasing workload situation.