Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 29: Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) Raj Kumar Kardam has detected deflection in the bearings of a vital bridge and seepage of water in a tunnel on Udhampur-Katra railway line and keeping in view the safety aspect he has reserved his decision on the opening of the section for some time.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR that Commissioner of Railway Safety along with his around 40 member team concluded three day long detailed inspection of the entire Udhampur-Katra railway line this evening and reserved his decision on the opening of the section keeping in view emergence of some safety issues particularly with regard to a vital bridge and a tunnel.
On January 27, the CRS carried out inspection from Udhampur Railway Station up to Tikri while as on January 28, he along with experts of different fields had a detailed look into each and every safety parameter from Tikri up to Jhajjar Bridge. Today, he completed the three-day long inspection by minutely examining the left over portion from Jhajjar Bridge to Katra Railway Station before leaving for Union Capital.
According to the sources, the Commissioner of Railway Safety detected deflection in the bearings of vital bridge on Jhajjar Khad whose pier is taller than the Qutub Minar. “The CRS and his team found that due to deflection in the bearings this very important bridge may not be able to bear the load of the trains chugging at fast pace and may create more problems or damage some of the bearings”, they added.
In response to a question, sources said, “it could not be immediately established as to whether there was fault during the installation of bearings or the deflection took place at the later stage”, adding “anyhow it is a matter of serious concern that bearings of the vital bridge were found deflected within seven years of the construction of the bridge”. It is pertinent to mention here that this bridge was constructed in the year 2007 and deflection in bearings of any railway bridge within such a short span of time is very uncommon in the Indian Railways.
They disclosed that Commissioner Railway Safety also noticed seepage of water in a tunnel on the section. “Though at present the seepage of water was not significant but it may cause a trouble during the rainy reasons”, sources said, adding “this has also been viewed very seriously by the Commissioner Railway Safety”. However, they said that seepage problem can be taken care of by taking some corrective measures that too within shortest possible time.
Stating that Commissioner Railway Safety has kept his decision on opening of Udhampur-Katra section open for normal train traffic reserved keeping in these two safety concerns, sources said, “the CRS may give the clearance for chugging of trains on this section with the recommendation that speed of the train shall be very less while crossing this bridge till some suitable option to rectify deflection of bearings is found”.
It is pertinent to mention here that while giving clearance for opening of any railway line the CRS mentions the maximum speed limit of the trains in the safety certificate.
According to the sources, keeping in view the pending clearance from the Commissioner of Railway Safety the Udhampur-Katra railway section is unlikely to be inaugurated as per the earlier scheduled date of February 2, 2014. “Even there is no mention of opening of this railway line in the latest itinerary of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh”, sources added.
Meanwhile, security personnel have been deployed all along the track.
When contacted, SSP GRP Katra, Abhay Mahajan confirmed that deployment has been made at all the required points on the track. “We have deployed GRP personnel at all the Sentry Posts and Duty Huts despite the fact that infrastructure was yet to be completed by the Railways authorities”, he added.
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