The Western Railway has completed the work of erecting metal fencing on 357 route kilometres between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, helping reduce cases of cattle being run over by trains, according to official data accessed by PTI. The railway zone began the work around January this year in order to curb incidents of cattle being run over by trains in the busy section, in which the semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express also runs.

Between March and May last year, there have been 75 incidents of cattle being run over in this section. The data shows that the number came down to 55 during the same period this year.

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According to the data, fencing has been completed in 150 route kilometres (RKM) in the Mumbai Central division, 175 RKM in the Vadodara division, and 31 RKM in the Ahmedabad division. The Western Railway plans to construct metal barrier on 623 RKM at a cost of approximately Rs 245 crore.

The fence is made of metal and is very robust, consisting of two W-beams. A W-beam type stands for broad flanges, which are thicker, that aid in resisting bend stress. Such fencing is used in highways and expressways, especially accident-prone areas, to protect vehicles and pedestrians.

Once the fencing work is completed, Vande Bharat Express will be able to run at a maximum speed of 160 kmph on the route reducing the travel time. Further, officials said. Besides Vande Bharat Express, other mail and express trains would also benefit from the fencing work as the train operation in the section will become hassle-free, officials said.

The railways has been planning to erect fencing on key routes in the rail network, specially sections where cases of cattle being run over occur predominantly. While metal barriers are an option, in places like the Ghaziabad-Kanpur stretch in the NCR zone, the Railway Ministry has asked the zonal railways to execute the suitably designed cattle fencing made of “seasoned and creosate oil treated bamboos coated with HDPE (high-density poly-ethylene).”

The other stretches requiring fencing include those in the North Central Railway, which covers 3,000 km of tracks and hosts parts of the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors, and the Northern Railway.