Title - Tour to gauge infrastruture safety in Tiruchi division

A marathon safety verification tour was conducted here headed by the Divisional Railway Manager, Manjula Rangarajan, here on Monday.The tour was in compliance with the Railway Board’s directions for augmented safety verifications. According to Ms.Manjula Rangarajan, the tour was a familiarisation exercise to learn about various lines in the division.The verification sought to gauge infrastructural safety including track security. In an exclusive conversation with The Hindu , Ms.Manjula Rangarajan placed premium on rail safety outside of trains.According to her, accidents along unmanned level crossings revealed an absolute contempt for life.“Safety begins at home, and when you step out, you are told to be safe. Unwilling to lose five minutes at the level crossing, an entire lifetime is wasted,” she said.The demands on Railways outstrip supply and there is a shortage of personnel. But, that does not justify unnecessary loss of lives at unmanned level crossings, said Ms.Manjula Rangarajan.There is a reason for signals at the crossings and machines do not respond to human fallacies.On Monday, the tour was conducted on the Needamangalam-Mannargudi, Mayiladuthurai-Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam-Velankanni sections.The lines, relatively new, were vetted for their safety provisions, to ensure a hazard-free passenger journey, Ms.Manujula Rangarajan said.Responding on a gamut of concerns including trespass into railway station complex, shortage of ticket counters, and shortage of Railway Police Force, the DRM took note of the complaints and assured that she would look into them specifically and respond.Pegging a civilian-railways partnership as the progressive way forward, the DRM stated that this would ensure channelisation of resources for other facilities for a comfortable passenger travel.The inspection also entailed an interaction with the Rector of the Velankanni Basilica to seek necessary requirements for the upcoming Velankanni festival here, on behalf of the Railways, Ms.Manjula Rangarajan said.ADRM Abdul Rahman and other officials were present at the inspection.