Railways fixes new device to foil Monkey menace along tracks

Palakkad (PGT): The Railways has started taking measures to control the monkeys invading the stations and causing frequent electrical disruptions and power breaks apart from difficulties to passengers, according to the Railway officials on Monday.

The anti-monkey climbing device that has been tested and proved effective will be deployed for controlling them at various vulnerable points, said the officials.

The device has been developed after the Railways successfully tested and blocked wild elephants from coming to the tracks near Walayar forests by setting up solar fencing and LED lights along the tracks. The

monkeys coming to the station are  harmless. With the bell chiming to announce the arrival of a train, the monkeys from the nearby forests swing in large numbers and land on the platforms. They are mainly in search of food.

Though they don’t harass the passengers in any manner they mess up the electrical system seriously, said S Jayakrishnan, the senior divisional electrical engineer.

The monkeys climb upon the OHE (overhead electric) masts and hit the live portions  to cause frequent tripping to feeder CBs (circuit breakers).

Continuous such trippings will lead to major OHE failures from breakage of catenary wires, and hangings of such broken wires will even cause to entangle with the pantographs of the locomotive, said Jayakrishnan.

The new anti-climbing device has been developed in the wake of failing other methods such as running barbed wires on the masts, he said.

The device was first experimented at one selected location where monkey climbing and CB tripping were established to be frequent. It was there for six months and then found that the monkeys were not able to intrude  at this particular point. Electrical tripping during the period were also found to be nil, he said.

Once the device has been proved effective, authorities have installed 100 such anti-climbers at 100 such locations. Forty more are in the process of installation, he said.

The anti-climbing device, however, comprised a metallic frame that can be fixed on to the mast/portal upright covered with a GI metallic sheet. The height of the device is 1.5 metres with 50 to 70 cm diameter. The metal drum attached to it will not give the monkeys enough grip and climb over, said Jayakrishnan