SCR warns grazers against letting their cattle near Railway Tracks

Hyderabad, June 25 : The South Central Railway on Wednesday said that a disturbing trend has been noticed of the cattle owners/cattle grazers letting loose their cattle on the railway lands and railway tracks, particularly during the night times. Despite patrolling by the railway personnel in identified areas, new spots of cattle trespassing the railway lands/railway tracks are coming to notice.

On Secunderabad Division of SCR, it has been noticed that the number of Cattle Run Over cases are more in Balharshah-Wihirgaon, Sirpur Town- Sirpur Kaghaznagar, Sirpur Kaghaznagar-Repalliwada, Guntratimadugu-Dornakal, Khammam-Chintakani, Chittapur-Sedam and Chandanagar-Borabanda sections. Instances of such nature may adversely affect the rail operations since there is a possibility of rail accidents including derailments taking place when the cattle is run over by trains. This also endangers the safety of passengers and may lead to disruption of rail traffic and loss to rail property etc., the SCR said.

During the year 2014 till May, 43 incidents of cattle run over were reported over Secunderabad division as against 53 incidents during the corresponding period of the previous year. On the whole, 113 such incidents were reported during the year 2013. In one of the recent cases, 5 cattle were run over near Chandanagar station and one coach of MMTS train was derailed. In yet another instance recently, Train No. 12803 Visakhapatnam-Hazrat Nizamuddin Swarnajayanthi Express hit the Cattle between Yelguru-Chintalpalli railway stations and the train was detained for 36 minutes at the spot.

The SCR said that several precautionary measures have been taken in this regard to prevent the entry of cattle in railway lands – such as constructing boundary walls, digging of trenches, provision of barricading /fencing at identified vulnerable places. Residents/cattle grazers of the nearby villages where such incidents take place are being counseled not to let their livestock graze near the railway tracks as there are chances of the livestock entering or crossing the tracks and getting run over by the speeding trains. Dumping of garbage along the Railway tracks by the people is also a cause, as this attracts the cattle to graze near the railway lands/railway tracks.

“SCR is taking stringent action against the violators, whose cattle is found moving in railway land/area. As per the provisions of Railways Act, owners of cattle are liable to be punished under section 154 (Endangering safety of persons travelling by railway by willful act or omission, punishable with imprisonment for 1 year, or with fine, or both) & under section 147 (Trespass and refusal to desist from trespass, punishable with imprisonment for 6 months, or fine Rs. 1000/-, or both),” the SCR spokesperson said in a press release.

In the case involving cattle being run over by Swarnajayanthi Express between Yelguru-Chintalpalli stations, the owner of the cattle was arrested and a case registered (Crime No. 220/14) under section 147 & 154 of Railways Act. In another case, the owner of the cattle was arrested in (Crime No. 129/14) under section 147 of Railways Act for trespassing into railway area with his cattle between Lingampalli and Chandanagar and causing obstruction to a Goods train.    INN