Nearly 450 railway track patrolling teams from the Waltair division of East Coast Railway (ECoR) will get GPS-enabled devices to prevent them from being used by officers as helpers

These devices are particularly used for teams on routes such as Kottavalasa-Kirandul line which passes through dense forest cover, valleys and isolated tribal hamlets.

“Such devices are already being used by other divisions in the country and the Waltair division is going to implement it in a couple of days,” said divisional railway manager MS Mathur. All track men will be given small GPS-enabled machines that cost around Rs 5,000 each, he added.

“We will be able to monitor their work and movement. This apart, we have also decided to reduce the weight of the equipment they carry from 120 kg to 60 kg as part of railway safety,” Mathur said. The equipment mostly include torchlights and hammers that are used for the maintenance works carried out by the workers. carrying such heavy luggage bags is a major health hazard for them.

Addressing the media here on Thursday, Mathur said that nearly Rs 70 crore was spent in the last seven months of his tenure in the division limits for maintenance and completion of the pending works. The amount was particularly spent on the automatic signalling system on specified lines in the division limits.