Metal barrier fencing curbs cattle runover incidents on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Rail Route

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 13 : To curb incidents of cattle runover in the busy Mumbai-Ahmedabad section, the Western Railways has completed construction work of cattle barrier fencing.
The metal barrier fencing covers a length of about 622 km between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Due to this innovative idea of fencing, cattle runover incidents have been reduced to zero on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad rail route.
Talking to ANI about this innovative idea, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "This is an innovative design of fencing, which has been prepared after extensive study. This fencing has been installed along the entire route from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. The advantage of this is that since its installation, the incidence of any animal coming onto the tracks has dropped to zero."
The Minister further said that previously, if any animal came in front of a fast-moving train, it was a significant risk. This is such an innovation that people have accepted it. If we did concrete fencing in any village, people would not accept it, because, it separated the village. Due to this fencing, it will be possible to run trains at a speed of 160 kilometres per hour on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route.
Vaishnaw emphasized that Indian Railways is working hard to operate trains at 160 kmph.
He said that to run trains at a speed of 160 kmph, there are four major requirements. It involves changing the OHE, changing the structure of the track, removing the curves as much as possible, and the need for Kavach. Because at a speed of 160 kilometres per hour, the loco pilot physically cannot see the signals.
Therefore, the train's protection must be automatic. Hence, Kavach is essential. There are some things like this, by working on which a speed of 160 kilometres per hour can be achieved. In the coming times, we will also install this fencing in other places, he added.
Minister informed that a lot of work has been done, including changing the OHE because a current of 800 amperes is needed for higher speeds.
"We have removed the curves that were there in the tracks at many places; the entire structure of the track has been changed. Along with this, Kavach is also being installed on this route. In this way, whatever technology we need to achieve a speed of 160 KMPH is being implemented," he said.
The metal beam fencing is very robust as it consists of two W-beams. A W-beam type stands for wide flanges, which are thicker, and aid in resisting bend stress.
Such fencing is used in highways and expressways, especially accident-prone areas to protect vehicles as well as pedestrians.