Indian Railway to fence off tracks after Dussehra disaster

22 Nov 18

Indian Railways has decided to build walls to fence its tracks to prevent trespassing, costing billions of rupees.

The announcement comes after a train hit and killed 59 people who gathered on the tracks to as part of the Dussehra, a Hindu festival, last month.

To avoid such events happening in the future, railway minister Piyush Goyal decided to build 3,000km of walls to fence off railway tracks running in residential areas.

“This will prevent trespassing as well as cattle straying into the tracks in areas which are vulnerable. The height is such that dumping waste on the track will also not be easy,” said Vishwesh Chaube, railway board member, who is finalising the project.

Indian railways has estimated the project to cost as much as 2,500 crore rupees (approximately $349m).

The wall will be made out of cement concrete at a height of 2.7 metres, according to the Indian Express.

 

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