Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Bhikya Suryam's valour brings glory to railway gangmen

M.L. Melly Maitreyi

HYDERABAD: Fifty-five-year-old Bhikya Suryam may have been an ordinary gangman till the other day. But since Saturday, when he saved hundreds of lives by alerting Visakhapatnam-bound Godavari Express driver to stop the train after the tracks were washed away near Nashkal, he has won a new respect for himself and his tribe.

The men in their typical orange shirts and khaki trousers and who work with simple tools like shovels, wire claws, crowbars and beaters seem to have found their share of glory at last. The largest workforce of railways, they are the men who maintain tracks day in and day out.

Working in groups of 15 to 17 men headed by a mate, they carry out their duty, explains Junior Engineer, Permanent Way, B.S.N. Raju, at Secunderabad railway station.

Shovelling the ballast (stones that are laid below the track), packing it beneath sleepers and along the rails tightly, beating the `dips' on tracks into shape, and checking nuts and bolts of joints and springs along tracks, they ensure safety for scores of trains. The gang men physically check stretches of tracks allotted to them and keep them absolutely safe for trains. "It is a continuous process to ensure that tracks are in perfect alignment. The ballast needs to be checked as it gives the cushioning effect to the rails when trains pass," Mr. Raju says.

The gangmen with red flags and red lamps (during the night) are the first to react in an emergency and alert drivers to stop, like Suryam who had acted swiftly when flash floods washed away parts of the track near Nashkal.

While gangmen work in teams during the day under a Permanent Way Inspector of the engineering division, they are alone while patrolling on nights.

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