VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawada Division of South Central Railway (SCR) has executed long-pending maintenance works during lockdown period as passenger services remain suspended, besides ensuring smooth movement of supply chains of all essential commodities through parcel and freight trains.
In a statement released on Saturday, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) P Srinivas said field staff have completed maintenance works like renewal of scissors crossover, commissioning and repairs of bridges which were left pending for several years.
Elaborating further, he said the division has carried out extensive maintenance of rail signalling system, tracks, overhead equipment and the rolling stock. During the lockdown, health of the tracks has been monitored through periodic runs of Oscillation Monitoring System (OMS) cumulating to 3,618 km. In all, 344 peak locations, indicated by OMS test has been attended to ensure proper quality, he said.
Explaining the various tasks executed by the field staff in the division, Srinivas said ultrasonic flaw detection (USFD) of 753.54 km track and de-stressing of long welded rail of 13 km has been done.
“The entire fleet of track machines were deployed and carried out tamping of 328.73 km of plane track and 175 turnouts. As many as 973 critical joints have been welded along with 4 km deep screening of ballast taken up during the lockdown.
Overhauling of 19 level crossings and inspection of every inch of track by keyman through patrolling to ensure safe and smooth operations. During the activity the staff were provided protective gear,’’ the DRM added.