BHUBANESWAR: Bringing convinience to trackmen, East Coast Railway (ECoR) introduced a unique vehicle made out of discarded bicycles and railway junks for easier and faster monitoring of the tracks. The newly-launched rail bicycles, developed by the Permanent Way (P-Way) units of Khurda Road division, are capable of moving at an average speed of 10 km per hour.
According to ECoR officials, these vehicles will also ensure safety of the railway staff during daily monitoring of the tracks. Earlier, the trackmen risked their lives by walking on the tracks while conducting inspections or carrying out maintenance works round the clock, irrespective of weather conditions.
Weighing around 30 kg, the bicycles can easily be lifted, assembled and dismantled by a single person. An alignment front wheel and light weight iron pipes were fitted to the body of an old bicycle with the help of nuts and bolts.
The officials claimed that the bicycles can be used for travelling even amid unfavourable weather conditions or while crossing difficult locations. "The travel time of the trackmen will be reduced considerably, preventing longer detention of trains," they added.
"The rail bicycle is a novel mechanism to quickly travel on rail tracks for inspections, monitoring and urgent repairs," said Khurda Road DRM Shashi Kant Singh. Out of 18 P-Way units under Khurda Road division, eight units including Berhampur, Sompeta, Khurda Road, Gorakanath, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road and Dhenkanal have manufactured the rail bicycles.
Railway staff return lost bag to owner
BHUBANESWAR: Railway staff returned a hand bag, containing a high-end smartphone and other utility items worth Rs 35,000, to a passenger, who had mistakenly left it in Falaknuma Express while travelling from Howrah to Cuttack.
The bag was recovered by the head constable of Railway Police Force, U Behera. The bag’s owner, SK Ali Mirza, had forgotten to take his bag along while de-boarding the train at Cuttack on August 23.