Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Southern Circle, Bengaluru Shri Abhai Kumar Rai, will conduct a Preliminary Inspection in the newly laid 2.26 km railway line between Padil – Kulashekara on 12.03.2022.
The inspection is precursor to the signal disconnection (Pre Non -Interlocked working) and track connection work (Non-interlocked working) to connect the new line with the existing railway lines as part of the doubling work in the section
Inspection using the motor trolley will commence from the Padil station yard at 10.00 hrs. On the course, CRS will inspect the curve, minor bridge, Point, Height cutting and Tunnel in the section. The inspection will conclude at Jokkatte station at 13.00 hrs.
Following this a Speed trial will be held in Jokkatte – Padil section between 12.00 hrs. 14.30 hrs.
People residing in the vicinity of the railway line between Padil – Jokatte Railway stations are hereby cautioned not to approach or trespass the railway lines.
During the inspection, CRS will be accompanied by Shri Trilok Kothari, Divisional Railway Manager, Palakkad Division and other higher officials of Southern Railway.
About the new infrastructure
Padil – Kulasekhara doubling work for a length of 2.26 Km (including a new tunnel of 780 m on the Up line) is the 4th and final stage of 19 km patch doubling work between Mangaluru Junction and Panambur.
The new Tunnel (No. 4B ) is the highlight of the project. This is the fourth railway tunnel in Palakkad Division jurisdiction. (Other than the existing tunnel in Kulashekara, The other two tunnels are on the up and down line between Kasaragod – Kottikulam)
The tunnel has 780 metre length and 6.18 metre in breadth. The height of the tunnel is 6.8 metre. The Conventional drill and blast method was used for the tunneling. The tunnel work alone cost approximately Rs. 70 Crore.
Pre Non Interlocked (Pre- NI) working and Non Interlocked (NI) Working
Southern Railway is planning three days pre NI-working and continuous 11 hrs. NI working to connect the newly laid line with the existing lines. The work is likely to be taken up in the third week of this month.
Advantages with the doubling in Padil – Kulasekhara section
With the doubling in Padil -Kulasekhara section, a bottleneck in train operations existed with the short single line section (2.26 km) will get eliminated.
At present, the line capacity of the section is only 24 trains in each direction and line capacity utilization of the section is 115%.
At present coaching trains are frequently held up at Mangaluru Junction and Jokkatte for want of passage, especially when trains are running out of path (running late).
Freight trains are to be moved in between the coaching trains whenever path is available. Hence freight trains are now frequently detained at Panambur and Jokkatte stations. With the introduction of doubling, detention to these freight trains can be minimized.