With the city going through the rainiest month of the year, the Eastern Railway has geared up for the monsoons. The zonal railway has taken a host of steps as a part of the preparedness for the rainy season and to minimize disruptions caused by heavy downpour.

The two divisional railways of the ER, including Sealdah and Howrah that carry lakhs of commuters daily, have made several arrangements for smooth running of trains during monsoon season. The Sealdah division, handling numerous suburban and long distance passengers, has identified several yards and station areas which are prone to waterlogging and arrangements of pumps have been made at those locations. According to the divisional railway, apart from 33 pumps available, quotations have been prepared to arrange pumps for ‘as-and-when-required’ basis along with cleaning of drains to prevent waterlogging.

The division has also undertaken the repairing works of leaky roofs and identified some limited height subways (LHSs) which are prone to waterlogging. The authorities have deputed a watchman to enable round-the-clock monitoring of waterlogging conditions at those LHSs. The waterlogging is also monitored by engineering control through CCTV cameras at one LHS. Pumps have been installed at those LHS for being used during heavy rain along with the identification of several vulnerable locations where stationary watchmen have been deputed for proper monitoring. As learnt from the Sealdah office, monsoon patrolling has been introduced over the division for proper monitoring of the condition of track and cess. Patrol charts have also been circulated for proper monitoring while the movements of the patrolmen are being checked with the help of GPS tracker by the engineering control.

During emergency situations, important monsoon reserve materials such as stone boulder, stone dust, wooden ballah piles, rail piles, gunny bags filled with sand/stone dust C.C. crib, relieving girder and so on, have been stored at strategic locations for use as and when required.

Like Sealdah, the Howrah division of the ER has also identified 22 vulnerable locations for round-the-clock monitoring and deployment of manpower and checked and repaired 703 platform sheds. The division has also loaded 30 wagons with boulders and kept those ready at Bandel. In addition, 54 wagons of sand dust have been loaded and kept ready at different stations as monsoon reserve while drains at 37 limited height subways (LHS) have been cleared.

As informed by the divisional railway office, pumping arrangements have been kept ready at 37 waterlogging-prone subways (LHS) while drains adjacent to stations and railway tracks at different places have been cleared. The Howrah division has also trimmed 132 trees beside the tracks to prevent uprooting during the heavy rains and regular night footplate inspection by officers have been started.