Even as a probe report on last month’s fire damaging the Central Railway’s signaling system is in the process of being finalised, authorities have started taking certain basic precautionary measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
Considering that one of the main reasons for the fire was the presence of uninsulated high-voltage electric wires running underground, CR authorities have put down instructions to insulate all such wires at least three to four times, a senior official said.
The signaling cabins at Kurla and Vidyavihar had caught fire last month, damaging the entire system, paralyzing the CR’s suburban operations for nearly three days. Officials say the fire was allegedly sparked off due to a short-circuit in the underground cable wires.
“There are many places throughout the section with underground electric wires. After the last month’s fire, we have asked the personnel working on the ongoing AC to DC conversion to make sure that all such wires located or being relaid underground are properly insulated,” said a CR official.
At present, CR is in the process of converting its the entire main line and harbour line network to alternating current (AC) from direct current (DC) and expects its entire suburban section to change to AC by the end of the year. CR has given similar orders to officials tending to electrical maintenance work using cable detectors to identify the location of underground cables. “Triple insulation will help avoid mishaps, especially if the cables are passing through water bodies. If not properly insulated, it can lead to electrocution,” the official said.