Central Railway teams trim trees to prevent mishaps, train delays

A viral video clip of a tree catching fire after bending and falling on overhead wires near Marine Lines has got the Central Railway (CR) officials back on their toes. The CR on Sunday asked its teams to look for trees dangerously leaning on such wires and trim them as per requirements.

A senior railway official said, "Yes, we undertook tree-trimming activity this week. Such trees and branches were trimmed at about 10 places this Sunday. The work was carried out using a special crane, three tower wagons and ladder gangs."

Last week following heavy rains, a tree bent and fell over live overhead wires and caught fire, leading to a lot of damage and suspension of trains. The overhead wires are charged with 25kv alternating current traction and any material that comes in contact with them gets instantly electrocuted.

Central Railway's chief public relations officer, Shivaji Sutar confirmed the development and said, "As part of the monsoon preparations, a number of trees and branches had already been trimmed. However, over the past few weeks there have been strong winds, which dislodged many old trees and branches bringing them in close range of running trains and wires. We had to conduct checks all over again to trim the trees so that they do not endanger the lives of passengers or lead to untoward incidents. The process will continue throughout the monsoon season."

In June this year, the Western Railway (WR) had also conducted a survey of trees, jointly with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. In the last six months, the WR trimmed 1,591 trees and cut 51 of them as part of the pre-monsoon work.

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