Secunderabad Station Yard to be free from flooding of tracks

HYDERABAD: Secunderabad Division of South-Central Railway (SCR) for the first time has undertaken major work for addressing the problem of water logging in Secunderabad Station Yard. It used the Micro tunnelling method through Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) for pushing the pipes in the yard, crossing the railway lines.

SCR, in a press release on Monday, said that the Divisional team deployed TBM to create micro-tunnelling and 1.8 dia RCC pipes were pushed for a barrel length of 75 metres towards the Vikarabad end of the station yard, in order to permanently resolve the issue of water logging in the Station yard. Water logging was also causing disruption in train movements.

The activity involved pipes pushing 14 crossing lines and several points and crossings. For the implementation of work, a Drive pit was made wherein TBM was launched from one end by pumping water in the form of high-intensity jets all along the circumference of the TBM.

"Earth in the form of wet slurry was pumped out as TBM proceeded ahead. Utmost care was taken during the pushing to ensure the smooth operation of the work, avoiding any slippages," the release said. Longer blocks, when encountered during the work, were taken specifically for the lines involved to clear the rock ahead of TBM manually, the release added.

"Due to meticulous planning, such a major work was executed without any major disruption to train services from the station," said the release. The total work was executed by the Divisional Engineering team with coordination by all associated branches.

SCR General Manager Arun Kumar Jain, speaking on the occasion said, "This will help in addressing the water logging of tracks effectively and facilitate the smooth operation of train movements even during the rainy season."