Monsoon preparedness of Mysuru divisional railway on track

South Western Railway's Mysuru Division prepares for monsoon with safety measures to prevent landslides in ghat sections.

The Mysuru Division of the South Western Railway (SWR) is bracing for four months of monsoon slated to commence from June and has taken measures to mitigate the impact of any adverse or extreme natural events like landslides in the ghat sections.

The South Western Railway has two major ghat sections – Sakleshpur-Subramanya Road and Castle Rocck-Kulem of which the former is in the Mysuru division and the latter comes under the Hubballi division.

In Mysuru division the ghat section with challenging and difficult terrain covers a distance of nearly 55 km between Sakleshpur and Subramanya Road and the authorities have put in place measures to ensure smooth running of trains apart from ensuring passenger safety and preventing any harm to railway property.

Shilpi Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, Mysuru Divisional Railway, told The Hindu that the precautionary measures and preparations to ward off any challenges arising from rains begin in pre-monsoon season and have been completed in the division.

She said at both Sakleshpur and Subramanya Road adequate inventory of boulders, sandbags, heavy earth moving equipment have been stationed and are ready for movement at instant notice apart from being stored in vulnerable sections. As there is no other approach route to the ghat section any material has to be moved from either Subramanya or Sakleshpur, she added.

The preparations for the rainy season commenced during the pre-monsoon season from the first week of May and apart from stocking of materials, patrol teams have also been deployed in the ghat section. There is patrolling by day and by night covering every inch of the track which is in addition to the normal keyman’s (persons who patrol the tracks and are involved in track maintenance) duties conducted in the morning, said Ms. Shilpi Agarwal.

“We have identified 31 vulnerable locations along the 55 km stretch and there are 93 watchmen and 80 patrolmen who will be on duty and keep a watch on the tracks and the terrain and the men have been trained on measures to be taken during sudden or intense rain,” she added.