Within a year, the railway tracks between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will be completely fenced. The Railway Board recently approved a new design for track fencing that can cover 1000 kilometres every six months.
The development follows calls for fencing following recent incidents of a semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train ramming into cattle in Gujarat.
Within 45 days of the launch of Mumbai Central-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat, three cases of cattle being run over and an accident involving a woman were reported. The incidents had also caused damage to the train’s nose.
According to official data, 200 trains were hit by cattle in the first nine days of October across the country. So far this year, up to 4,000 trains have been affected.
A railway official said they are looking at two designs. “A sturdy prefabricated wall will come up in the next five to six months. A conventional boundary wall will not be able to resolve the problem. The new design will take less time and will be easy to repair,” he said.