Kolkata, Sep 23 (IANS) Ramendra Kumar Tewari, additional member (railway electrification), Railway Board, inspected several locations under Eastern Railway (ER) to ensure passenger safety and convenience.
ER is among 15 of the 19 zonal railways that are yet to be 100 per cent electrified. Regular maintenance of installations such as sub-stations and depots has to be done to prevent accidental fires and outages that could disrupt services.
Tewari, accompanied by Dhaneswar Mohanta, principal chief electrical engineer, ER, inspected the Howrah-Memari section in an inspection car. He inspected the Bandel station, TRD (Traction Distribution) Depot and substation.
His emphasis was on fire safety, passenger safety, passenger amenities, protective coordination of the Bandel Substation, and reliability of electrical installations.
The Railway Board additional member interacted with the field staff and enquired about the maintenance practices being followed, the status of recent failures, and the corrective measures undertaken to prevent their recurrence.
He stressed the need for strict adherence to prescribed maintenance practices and enhanced vigilance at the field level to ensure the safe and reliable functioning of electrical installations.
He also emphasised the importance of strengthening the Model OHE (Overhead Equipment) Depots as centres for improving the technical knowledge, practical skills, and competency of staff.
“He advised that focused training and skill development of field staff should be undertaken to enhance the reliability and safety of OHE installations,” an official said.
ER’s electrical department has taken several smart measures recently to enhance reliability and reduce carbon emissions. One significant step was to upgrade rakes from End On Generation (EOG) to Head On Generation (HOG). This effectively did away with noise generation and diesel consumption by generator cars attached to fully air-conditioned trains like the Rajdhanis and Shatabdi.
Under HOG, electricity is tapped directly from the overhead equipment (OHE) through locomotives to power lights, fans and air-conditioning inside the Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches, thereby eliminating the use of generator cars.
This has also allowed such trains to attach more passenger coaches. This has helped more people get confirmed tickets.
The Traffic Distribution wing has also been aggressive in replacing ageing contacts and catenary wires to prevent OHE snaps. Hundreds of metres of wires have been replaced to prevent accidents.
–IANS
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