Shailesh Khandelwal is a relieved man. The Chief Signal and Telecommunications Engineer (Construction) of West Central Railway (WCR) headquartered at Jabalpur, and his team of nearly 200 railwaymen have pulled off an operation unparalleled in the history of Indian Railways. They commissioned a new route relay interlocking system (RRI) at Itarsi’s railway station – Itarsi Junction - in Madhya Pradesh within 35 days, replacing the old RRI that was destroyed by fire in mid-June.

RRI is a centralised system that uses electrical devices called relays to ensure that correct signals (green or red) are given to trains to move, stop and change tracks without running into each other.

BusinessLine talked to him and scores of officials to recreate the first few days of the salvage operations.

June 17, Wed | 5.30 am | The SOS Yogendra Singh Baghel, Station Manager of Itarsi Junction, wakes up just as the sun breaks out. As has been his routine for years, Baghel immediately takes stock of the train schedule, checking if there are any delays. Within 10 minutes, a hysteric colleague calls to inform that the station’s RRI building is on fire.

Baghel asks his staff to inform the signal inspector, whose work is dependent on the RRI. By the time the Station Master arrives, an envelope of black smoke has engulfed the building, which has only one door for entry and exit. As the fire brigade arrives, there is confusion. Dousing the fire with water would damage the RRI, but the firemen go ahead as there is no alternative. By then, train traffic at Itarsi, a town in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh, has come to a halt. The Junction handles 210 trains each day -----mail, express, passenger and freight. A major transit point, Itarsi is a four-way junction and at least one train from each of India’s 16 railway zones pass through it.  Locomotives (engines) are changed 60 times a day and the station is also used for changing crew – drivers, guards and ticket examiners.

Initially Baghel thinks that the scale of the fire is small. It isn’t. The smoke is so dense that the window panes of the RRI relay room, which is the only air-conditioned room in the building, has to be broken to switch off the power. The relay room is connected to the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board and has diesel gen set.  Baghel calls up the divisional headquarters at Bhopal and reports the fire to the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) and the Additional DRM (ADRM), the top officials of the Bhopal division. Itarsi Junction falls its jurisdiction.

Indian Railways `didn’t respond to a mail asking about the cause of the fire.

6.30 am | At the headquarters At the West Central Railway Headquarters at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, the Chief Signal and Telecom Engineer (CSTE) Satya Prakash Trivedi and his colleague Shailesh Khandelwal, are apprised of the situation. “I told my wife that it is an emergency and I would not be back for at least a month. Families of Railways employees are habituated to such situations,” says Khandelwal. While Trivedi is responsible for the Signals department, Khandelwal oversees projects undertaken by the Signals and Telecom departments.

Both leave for Itarsi by road, and simultaneously ask the office at Bhopal division to arrange for materials required for the revival of the RRI. “The first pertained to staffing ---- deploying competent manpower willing to do the job.  The second was mobilising contractors who supply equipment. The third was procurement of materials such as relays, outdoor cables and circuits. I kept communication lines open with nearby railway zones for manpower and material,” says Trivedi. Meanwhile, first instructions are given to the Bhopal division to start manual signals and resume train operations. “By 7.15- 7.30 am, we dispatched the first train using manual signalling,” says Baghel. The fire is brought under control at about 9-9.30 am. But the RRI is gutted.

Khandelwal’s first priority is to install a temporary RRI system within 72 hours.

2 pm | Taking stock Under the manual system, the 108 points under Itarsi RRI have to be clamped for running trains. Paper number 369(3b) (which is authorised by the Station Master and given to the driver to proceed into a section of track when signal is at ON) was to be issued to drivers to proceed. “We neither had an adequate number of clamps nor the manpower to operate using the manual mode. The staff was on night shift had not left for home as they had understood by that time that we were facing an emergency situation,” says Baghel. But only 20 trains per day can move in and out of Itarsi under the manual system.

Extra clamps from nearby stations such as Harda and Hoshangabad are called for. The ADRM and DRM of Bhopal division arrive to take stock of the situation. An hour later, Trivedi and Khandelwal reach Itarsi. They find that train traffic is at a standstill. Only two to three trains have been received since morning at a station where about 10 trains pass every hour.

“When we saw the ground conditions, we were alarmed. We knew that we would require six months to execute the new RRI because it entailed yard re-modelling. But we also knew that we didn’t have six months,” says Khandelwal. It is decided to commission the new RRI in 45 days. And as the new RRI is being commissioned, a temporary panel will be created to run 120 trains (instead of the usual 210) by operating 12 out of the 108 points. The temporary panel has to be set up in a couple of days to get the ground going.  But with no precedents this could backfire.

Khandelwal and Trivedi, who skip dinner, talk with the design team on the temporary panel. The design team had arrived at 7 pm from Jabalpur. Additional Member signalling and Advisor Signalling Railway Board join them. But instead of 45 days to commission the new RRI, the top officials gives Trivedi and Khandelwal 31 days. Three days are given to make a temporary panel. But Trivedi and Khandelwal ask for more time. They are asked to submit a plan by 7 am next morning.

June 18, Thur | Setting deadline The meeting, also attended by Ajay Shukla, Member – Traffic, Railway Board and Ramesh Chandra, General Manager, West Central Railway, is held and it is agreed that the new RRI will be set up in 35 days.

The new panel needs approval from the CRS (Commissioner of Railway Safety) . Only when the CRS clears any project on its safety aspects, operations can be started. The Railway Board is empowered to give special exemptions if the CRS disagrees.

For officials from the nearby zones, getting to Itarsi is a challenge as only 20 trains per day are received at the Junction. Most of them have travelled without reservation and stood the whole journey. A control room is created to look into the boarding, lodging and transportation of the staff. The team hardly sleeps for the first three days as the temporary panel has to be commissioned in 72 hours. It will be eventually done in 80 hours. “For the first time, I saw some one’s eyes popping out (because of tiredness),” says Khandelwal. But their hard work is paying off. Twelve points are made functional through the temporary panel.

June 19, Fri | New schedule There are 11 lines at Itarsi station – four are through lines, away from the platforms. They are usually used for trains that do not halt. Seven lines are for the platforms and of them, only four are operational. With reduced lines at disposal, the operating department at Itarsi takes a few steps to control traffic for the next 30-odd days.  Loco (engine) changes at Itarsi are abandoned. The station also doesn’t receive the 15 goods rakes and five-six rakes of oil tankers that come every month. Many trains are re-routed via Katni (336 km away) and Bina (330km). But the crew change at Itarsi is retained.

“After June 20, eight huts were made along the four lines for manual signalling. Each hut consisted of a supervisor and three-four pointsmen,” says Baghel. “We worked for about 35 days with this system and thank god there was no derailment,” he adds.

June 20, Sat | The new RRI The temporary panel is set up. The number of trains through Itarsi increase from an average of 20 a day in the first three days to about 120 a day until the commissioning of the new RRI.

Fortunately for the team, the old RRI at Itarsi was being replaced even before the fire. The new RRI relay room was almost ready. Six months were required to commission the new RRI. Now it had to be done in 35 days.

Five teams are set up. Of this, three would test the main RRI panel in eight-hour shifts. One team does the wiring in the RRI relay room working 12-14 hours a day. A design team works on the RRI circuitry. The testing team identifies glitches in wiring, which is then given to the design team. Once corrected by the design team, the wiring team takes over to execute and then it is handed over to the testing team again. Another four teams are set up to do the outdoor work that includes wiring of signals.

June 21, Sun | CRS visits Itarsi The CRS, Chetan Bakshi, comes to Itarsi and is briefed about the situation.  “By now, the scope of approvals was crystal clear and things moved so fast that the papers for sanctioning works were put up to the CRS on the morning of June 23rd, and they were approved by evening,” says Khandelwal.  Every evening a meeting of about 60-75 minutes is held for thrashing out / resolving inter-departmental issues.  This meeting is attended by representatives from several departments including engineering, over-head equipment (OHE), electrical general and mechanical. The DRM and ADRM of Bhopal division are present at these meetings for the first 15 days. The constant monitoring helps, as the engineering and OHE departments i finish their part of the job in 25 days.

Meanwhile, the internet comes handy when it is found that the auto changeover of power supply (between OHE supply, local supply and the gen set) was not happening due to a defective relay. A person deputed to Bhopal combs the local market but returns empty-handed. An internet search shows stores in Bhopal stocking the equipment. The stores are opened by mid-night, the relay verified and delivered at Itarsi at 6 am on the day of commissioning. Khandelwal sighs with relief.

The new RRI is commissioned two days ahead of schedule (in 33 days). “All principles of management were applied and we got overwhelming support from every department and every zone from where we sought help. The commitment level from the teams was really very high,” says Khandelwal. Baghel is lavish in his praise of colleagues. “I would like to put on record the selflessness shown by all our colleagues at Itarsi.”

Learning “A policy will be taken by the Indian Railways Board on how to handle similar situations,” says Trivedi. The WCR has suggested installation of fire alarms at all important RRI buildings of WCR. The General Manager of WCR has suggested that a standby RRI be installed at all important locations. “This entails a cost of ₹6-7 crore, and has to be decided by the Railway Board as a policy,” he adds.

comment COMMENT NOW