Hubballi: When Devappa Chalavadi , 37, a keyman , was run over by a train recently, his colleagues and the public were shocked by the incident. Now, the Hubballi division of South Western Railway (SWR) has started providing GPS tracking devices for patrolmen and is installing them on all inspection trolleys used by its track maintenance staff.This move is building confidence among patrolmen who walk along the track to check for problems and are the first level of safety. Rajesh Mohan, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Hubballi division, SWR, who undertook night patrolling with patrolmen between Hubballi and Kundgol section recently, said that in the first phase, 60 GPS devices will be provided for inspection trolleys and distributed to trackmen. “In the second phase, 800 GPS devices will be distributed to keymen and patrolmen. In the third phase, around 120 devices will be distributed to road safety counsellors and gate mitras. The entire distribution will be completed in two months,” he said.He added: “While inspection trolleys are used for monitoring safety parameters of railway tracks and for safety inspections by permanent way officials, the advent of GPS tracking devices helps track movement of patrolmen and inspection trolleys on a real-time basis. A dedicated computer has been set up in the engineering control room to monitor movement of such trolleys/patrolmen. Officials can view the movement of keyman/patrolmen at any given time by accessing data on a website.”Sources in the engineering control room added that such the tracking device will also enable officers to know the exact time, location and speed of patrolmen. It also helps to check if sectional engineers are carrying out routine inspections as per the schedule. The device also has a feature of an SOS call which will immediately alert officials in case of accidents. The device was tested by us. With the introduction of such gadgets, effective monitoring of track safety will be ensured resulting in safe train operations.”AM D’Cruz, general secretary, SWR Mazdoor Union, welcomed the move. “Not only safety of trackmen, it’ll be helpful to prevent accidents.”

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