Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced a string of safety and security measures while presenting the Railway Budget for fiscal 2005-06 in Parliament on Saturday.

Track side bogie monitoring system

As part of safety initiatives, a pilot project for development of track side bogie monitoring system is proposed to be launched.

This system uses wayside detectors to monitor performance of bogies including bearing, which relay warning signals to the nodal stations about abnormal conditions, enabling advance action to be taken before the vehicle causes damage, he said presenting the Railway Budget for 2005-06.

The Railway Budget 2005-06: Complete Coverage

To enable quick response for both rescue and restoration, medical relief trains and trains carrying equipment for restoration have been upgraded for operation at 100 kmph, he said.

To facilitate training on improved driving techniques for motormen resulting in better safety performance, it is proposed to provide three simulators for EMU/MEMU sheds, Prasad said.

Special Railway Safety Fund

Observing that considerable progress has been made in the execution of works sanctioned under Special Railway Safety Fund, Prasad said Rs 6504 crore (Rs 65.04 billion) have already been spent upto March 31 last year and Rs 3645 crore (Rs 36.45 billion) are likely to be spent during the current financial year making a total of Rs 10,149 crore (Rs 101.49 billion).

As regards physical progress, 12,138 km of track are likely to be renewed upto March 31 this year out of total target of 16,538 km, he said.

Of around 2700 bridges to be rehabilitated or rebuilt from SRSF, 1306 were completed by March 31 last year and 411 bridges would be targeted in the current year, he said.

The work of replacement of overaged signalling systems with modern systems has been completed at 567 stations and work is in progress at 881 stations, he said.

Interlocking at level crossings with signals is likely to be completed at 300 gates during 2004-05, bringing the total of inter-locked level crossings to 7395 out of 16,741 manned level crossings, the minister said.