Bhubaneswar: Focusing on passenger safety, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has ramped up measures to tackle the dense fog situation in its jurisdiction.
The night patrolling team has been advised to wear fluorescent jackets and carry lightweight kit consisting of beaters, crowbars, coin shaped maroon colour detonators, flash signal lights, caps, gloves and whistles. The team is tasked to alert the train drivers (loco pilots) about the fog situation before approaching ‘Stop Signal’. That apart, the night patrol teams do keep a watch for any track fishplate damage.
If there is fracture or damage in the track, the night patrol team has to repair it after turning the light to ‘Red’ signaling stop sign to the approaching train.
If the approaching train is expected to reach the affected spot at the earliest, the patrolmen put a detonator first at 600 metres, then 270 metres on the track from the affected area. The detonators go off with a loud sound when a train runs over them, alerting the driver to slow down the train. The provision of detonators and other safety devices have been of great help to the Loco Pilots who now can spot these luminous strips even during fog and get extra careful regarding the aspect of the approaching signal.
