3000-km Wall From Indian Railways Will Stop Amritsar Like Tragedies; Rs 2500 Cr Allocated
50 people were mowed down by a speeding trains in Amritsar this October. This wall aims to stop such tragedies.
On October 21st this year, there happened a tragic incident unprecedented in Indian Railways’ history. Around 50 people were mowed down by a speeding train in Amritsar, as 5000 people had gathered to watch Ravana burn on a Dusshera.
While it will still take some time to determine who exactly was the culprit here, Indian Railways has decided to act fast.
In a big decision, Indian Railways has decided to build a 3000 km-wall around tracks, all over the country.
Will this work?
3000 Kms Wall To Protect People and Animals
Railway minister Piyush Goyal has given green signal to the creation of a 3000-km wall which will cover major railway tracks all over the nation.
This type of wall is known as RCC (reinforced cement concrete) walls and will be 2.7 meters in height. This wall will cover vulnerable areas in both urban and semi-urban locations where there are people residing nearby.
This will also help to keep-off stray animals and those who dump garbage on the tracks.
This project will be led by Vishwesh Chaube, Railway Board Member (Engineering), who said, “This (wall) will prevent trespassing as well as cattle straying into the tracks in areas which are vulnerable. The height is such that dumping waste on the track will also not be easy,”
Who Will Fund This Wall?
Total of Rs 2500 crore has been allocated for building this wall, which will be funded via a special corpus created by Indian Rail regarding safety and security.
Named as Rashtriya Rail Sanrakshana Kosh, this is a Rs 1 lakh crore fund, specially created for formulating and implementing safety standards, and this amount will be spent in the next 5 years.
As per the last budget, 2000 kms of the wall was to be created, which has been now extended to 3000 kms, after Amritsar mishap.
Death By Trains: A Major Problem
As per some estimates, close to 50,000 people have been mowed down by trains in the last 3 years, all over the nation.
This problem is even more serious on the tracks of Mumbai locals, which passes through some of the densest areas populated by people. Per year, more than 3000 people are killed, mainly due to trespassing on the tracks. Hopefully, this new wall by Indian Rail will help to save lives.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.
