The Castle Rock-Kulem section in SWR is challenging to maintain as it is prone to landslides due to heavy rainfall in the monsoons given the topography.
Due to the incessant rain of 1000 mm in 5 days of, last week 4 potential landslide boulder locations were attended by Hubballi Division. It was possible due to meticulous efforts of maintenance teams that worked braving continuous trains.
2 monsoon rakes kept for emergencies were utilized along with 120 contract Labourers under supervision of 6 Railway officials.
The Railway officials have attended the following locations:
1. Km 16/8-17/0 in Tinaighat – Castle Rock section: 5 tree falling incidents in 04 days occurred. Loose soil was removed by deployment of 30 nos contractual staff and 01 Poclain in 2 hours line block.
2. Km 30/3-4 Castle Rock-Caranzol — Landslide location: – Loose Soil fell down from landslide was removed and dumped in valley by the deployment of 01 Poclain and 20 no’s contractual staff in 03 hours line block.
3. Landslip near slip siding point in Dudhsagar yard protected by unloading of 5 Boosters filled with boulders and 03 BCN wagons filled with sandbags in 04 hours line block and 40 no’s staff under the supervision of ADEN/Castle Rock.
4. Landslide location in Sankval yard protected by unloading of 3 BCN wagons filled with sandbags in 2 hours’ line block with 30 no’s contractual staff supervised by PWI/Sanvordam.
Shri Arvind Malkhede, Divisional Railway Manager, Hubballi has continuously monitored the situation. Shri Neeraj Bapna, Sr.Divisional Engineer/West visited Work spots & Shri Mahender, Sr.Divisional Engineer /Co-Ord /Hubballi has arranged for mobilizing men and materials during restoration.
Shri A.K. Singh, General Manager said that only one incident of train detention occurred during a landslide in this period which testifies the quantum of work being done even amidst pandemic in torrential rains.
