New signalling control room at Itarsi becomes operational

NEW DELHI: Train movement through Itarsi junction became normal today with the new Route Relay Interlocking (RRI) panel, an automatic signalling system, functioning effectively.

Train movement was badly affected for the last 34 days as the RRI panel was totally burnt due to a major fire incident causing severe disruption in the service.

It was a mammoth task for installation of the new RRI system at Itarsi after the fire incident, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Itarsi, situated strategically in the central part of India linking North-South and East-West parts of the country through trains, is a crucial junction in Bhopal Division of West Central Railway. Itarsi station plays a key role for the train movement between Bombay-Bhopal, Bhopal-Nagpur and Bombay-Jabalpur-Allahabad route.

As per normal schedule, about 145 scheduled Mail Express and Passenger trains and 50-60 freight trains are dealt with at Itarsi station in both directions daily.

The destruction of RRI immediately resulted in much reduced running of only 35 trains per day though Itarsi through manual operation.