GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISERY OF RAILWAYS {RAILWAY BOARD) et No.20U3/FeicRCTE/T PEL ew Delhi dated 24.06.2025 General Managers, All Tndina Railways. Teiecom Circular No. V7 2013 gnb: Procedure for undertaking digging work in the vicinity of Signaling, Filectrical and Telecommunication Cable. JPO No. 1/5ig/2004 dated 16.12.2004 issued by Board on the subject matter was reviewed in consultation with Signal, Electrical, Civil Engineering and Works Directorates of Board. 2. "The samc has sow been finalized and a copy of the Revised Joint Procedure Order duly signed by ED TD, EPCE/P, EDISD, EDA and EDBE’M is artuched for compliance, 3 Please. acknowledec recedji. DA: bins es. Y in. 5 pages. my y- (Rakesh Ranjan) Director{Telecom. Copy tor i) EDIPD, EDCRIY, EDISD, EIN und EDEEM if) C81Bs, AM Indian Railways ii} CST Bs/Construction, All Indian Railways iy) ED/Tele, RDBO, Lucknow 4) MDVACIL, 143, Institutional Area, Sector 44, Gargacn - 122003.Haryana, oleAnnexuve te Telecommunication Circular No. Te /2013 ee kure to Lelecommunication Circular No. | JOINT PROCEDURE ORDER FOR UNDERTAKING DIGGING WORK IN THE VICINITY OF UNDERGROUND SIGNALING, ELECTRICAL & TELECOMMUNICATION CABLES. A A numberof Engineering works in cormection with gauge eonversion/daubling/third Eng are in progress on various Raitways, which require extensive digging work near the running track, in close vicinity of the working S&T cables curving vital safety circuits as well as electrica) cables feuding the power supply ta cebins, ASM room, RRI Ca Intermediate Block Huts (BH) atc. Similarly, S&1' organisation under open tine of construction units under CAONC, are executing various Signaling and Telecom works requiring digging of —_——earth-tor laying of cables-or-testing of foundations forthe erceton-of sigual-pests— - etc, Railfel is also executing the work of laying of quad cable end OFC on yerious Railways as a part of sunctioned works for exclusive use of Railways foc cacrving voice aid data i.e. administ-ative and eoatral comununication, PRS, FOIS etc. or shared by RailTel Corporation of lndia Led. Oy cerlain sostions digging is also required for laying of electrical cable end casting of foundation for the erection of OHE masis Sy Hiectricz! Deptt, Generally, these works arc exceuted by contractors employed by these organisations. B, However, while carrying out these works in the viel ity of working signaling, tclecommunication and electrical cables, at times, cable cuts tuke place cue to JCB machines working along the track or during ike digging work being done by contractors carrying out the Ci ginsering works. Similarly, such cable cuts are also cesulting due to works undertaken by S&T or Electrical departments, Such cable faults tegults in the tailure of vital signaling and telecemmunicetion cirewtly & electrical installations. c Henceforth, the following joint procedure shal! be followed by Engineering, BSlectrical and S&T (and RallTel organises on, wherever such works are seing done by them} officers of the respective divisions and by the construction organisation, while carrying out eny digging work rear to exisling signaling & iclevormmmuaication and electrical rubles, 0 that the ingtances of cable cur dee 19 exceution of works, can be controlled and minimized 1 S&T department (and RailTel, where they have ldid the cables) and iectrical department shali provide a detailed cable revie plan showing cxact location of ceble at an interval of 200 m or wherever there is chenpe in alignment co thet the sane is located easily by the Engineeriay: officiaVcontractor. In addition, S&T department und Electrical department shall also provide cable markers along the alignment of the calle. These cable route plans shall be made available ta the SrDENDEN or Dy.CE‘C, as the case mey be, by Sr. DSTEYDSTE or SL DEE/DEE of the divisions or Dy. CSTIXC or Dy. CEEIC within 15 days in “tL gf pee Ene Eas See ~ cote = geetduplicate. Sr. DEN/DEN or Dy.CEC will send copivs to their fteld unit ie, ABNISE/P, Way & Works. 2. Before taking up any digging activity on a particular work by any agency, Sr. DSTEDSTE or Sr.DEE/DEE of the section shall be epproached in writing by the concerncd Engg. or S&T or Electrical officer for pernaitting lo undertake the wok. SrDSTEDSTE or Sr DEEDEE, afler ensuing that the concemed exe § agencies inching the contractor have fully understood the Sé&T and Elecirical cable coute pian, shall permit he work in writing within 7 Gays of the request by concerned department, a After wetting the permission from S&T or Blectrieal department as the case may %, the relevant portion ef the cahte rote Blan shell be attached to the letler ——--- through which permission is issued to the commactor by concemed Engg. official _ for commencement of work and ensuring that the contractors have Fully understood the cable route plan ard precautions to be taken 16 prevent damage to the underground cables. The conn: shall be asked to study the cable plan and follow it meticulously to ensare that the saftly of the cable is not endangered, Such a provi y penalty for defauh, should form part of agreement aiso. It is a¢visable that ¢ suitable pos. of SB¥Sig or SH/Tcle or SE/Electri¢al(TRD or G} shall be created chargeable 19 the estimates of doubling‘gavge cOnWersOn, who can help Engg. agencies in the execution of the work, However basic responsibility will be of the departreem executing fle work and the contractor, Creation of pests is not mandatary, 4 The SE‘PWay or SE/Works shall Fass on the information to the concemed SE‘Sig. or SE/Tele ar SE/EFlectrical(TRP or G) about the works being taken up by the contractors in their sections at least 3 days in advance of the day of the work In addition Engiavering contro) shuit also be informed by SEP. Way or SE/Works, who jn tarn shall Piss On the information to the tes! room/network Operation center of Raj] TelfPPC/Elecicical contol i On receiving the above information, ST8ig or SE/Tele or $PHlectrical(TRD or G) skall visit the site on or before the date of taking up the work and issue petmussion ( the contractor to commence the work aller checking that adequare precaulions have buen taken to avnid the Camage to the cables, The pemtission shal] be granted within 3 days of submission of such requests. 6. The name of the contraiar, is conéact telephone number, the nature of the work, shall bs notified in the Engineering control as Soon as the concemed Engineering officials issue the letter authorizing commencemem of work 1 (he comtractur, Test roo shall be given copies. ‘Test oom shall collect any further details from the Engineering controd and shalt pass it on to S&T/RailTel & Electrical officials regularly. In tase the supervisors of concerned cepartments do not tum up on the day as advised in terms of para 4 and 5 above, the works of contractor should not be stopped on this account : / ‘6 A ees joer = ee! ' EDO B Ebi eect)—_snswrviaed by S&T supervisors/ReilTst supervisary/Electrical supervisers. . 9. In cage of works being taken up by the Stare Government, National Highway Authority etc, the details of che permission piven ie. the nature of worl, kilometer ete. be given to the Engineering contro! including the contact person's number So that the work can be done it a pianned manner. ‘The permission [sucr shall indicate the contact numbers of Test room/Nezwork Operating Centre of Rail Tel/TPC¥Elect, Comtrol, Where the nature of the work taken up by the 2ngineering department is such that the OFC or other SJ cables or Electrical cebles is te be shifted and relocated, notice of minimum onc week shail be given so that the DivisionRailTel/Construction can plan the works properly for shifting. Such shifting works shall in addition, for security and integrity of the cables, be The concerned SRvP. Way/SEWo-ksSE/Sig/SE/Tele/ SEvElectrica TRE ar G) or RailTel supervisors supervising the work of the contractor shall ensure that the existing emergency sockets are not damaged in view of their imporiance in providing communication duting accidentemergency. In casa of minor hature of works where shifting of cable is nea required, in order to prevent demage to the cable, the Engineering contractor shall take out the S&T or optical fibre cable or Electsical cab‘e carefully from the trench and place it properly alorgsice ct a safe location before starting the earthwork onder the supervision of SLVSig. or SE‘Teie or SE/Electrica RD or G). The cable shall be reburied sooa afier completion of excavation with proper care ineladmg placement of the brick over the cabie under the supervision af S&T or Electrical supervisors. However, ihe work wiJl be charged ta the concerned enpineering works. The cesponsibility for ensuring availahility of SE (Signal), SE (Electrical} as per para 4 and 5 above lies with the ruspective department, ‘The contractor wil! zo ahead with the shi of cables as per ihe progran decided and he will net be held responsible for any cabie cnt. In all the sections where major project are 10 be taken up/gging on RailTeW/S&T department shall deploy their o (ficial to take preventivefcorective action af site af work. As repards Electrical Department, the officiel may be deputed on seed basis. Mu new OFC or quad cable shell be laid clase to the oxisting track. Lt shail he laid close ta the Reibway boundary on one side of the Railway track to the extent possible to avoid uny interference with the foture works (doubling stc.). it shall be ensured in the new works of cable laving that the cable route js properly identified with eleeironic or concrete markers. Wherever multiple cables are leid tn a trench, REID markers may be provided for easy identification of the cable, Henceforth, wherever cable laying is phanned, before undertaking the cable laymg work, ‘he cable route plan of the same shall he prepared by the Dy.CSTEC or Dy.CEE/C mecoctll cuss ora Ctl gpett3 shall be got approved from ihe coacerned Sr. OSTE/DSTE or Sr. DEE‘DEE end also from the concemed Dy. CE*C for new lines and frum the concemed “DEN for all other projects inelading doubling GC ete., to avoid possible demage in future, Such approve! shall be granted within 15 days of the submission of the request. 3. The works of oxeavating the trench end ‘a ing of the cable should proceed in quick succession, leaving minimum dime between tha two activities. Id. In case damage is caused to OF C/Quad cable .- - > 2°". doting execution of the work, the contactor is Tiable to pay 2 penalty for damaging the cable Ponaily shall not be levied in. cese of the tollowing:— 0} Detailed vahis coute, plan es per clause O-1 not, provided by concerned _ department or cable is not protected as per laid down procedures. (ii) The alignment of the cable dces not taliy with the information provided ty the contractor. (iit) The cable depth is found to be less than 800 ym from normal ground level. div) No representative of S&T cepanmenRailTel was available at site puerding the cables ow the fixed pre determined date and time. 15 Penaley to bs imposed for damages to cabie shall be wy ender: | Cable damaged os | Penalty per location —] Qeoy Quad cabie or Signaling cable F10 lakh 8 Daly OFC ©1125 Lakh ” 4 Both OFC & Quad ©1.5 Lakh | i Elee:rical Cable 2 1.0Lakb Necessary debit in this regard shail be raised on the department underwuking the work who shall in tum levy the penalty on the defaulting contractor, S&T cepartment shall raise the debits in case of damage to OFC or Quad or Signaling cable and Electrical department shull raise the debits in case of damage to Electrical cade. 16, Railways will not ledge FIR with RPF in cases of works being executed by authorized contcectors af Railways who have been duly pertitted to execule the works tn accordance with this IPQ. Joint note by the supervisury of the concemed department shall be prepared and the responsibilicy of the cable out shoul be ecided without involving RPF. The Joint note deciding the fact whether the contractor should be penalized shall be completed in a day’s time from the otcurrence of cable cut. in all other cases, when the cable is cul by an agency thet was nut permitted to execute any work, FIR should be Wudged with RPP, , — we at , Me 5 Ae SoS stn : cep) EDP e eel a BOS1 a4 a2. s (Rajeev Shan While giving permission for iaking up the works, concemed departments may note thet eacthwork by engineering contractors yw. siormalty be done by machines except in a few isolated locations where the quantity of esrih work is very lass. Ratiways shall make neeessary correction in their future contract sa that this (PO tan also be enforced contractually, In case of damage to OFC, RaiiTel should be paid 5/6" of the penalty recovered RailTet shalt raise demands on the S&T department in this regard. Tai bond, cross bond and structure bond 4 view Wo keep the tail voltage low to ensue Al types of signaiing & OHE bonds i shall be restored by the contractor ¥ safely of personne]. Above joie circular shail be applicable for constucdun as well as open Tine organisation of Engineering, S&T & Electrical S&T cable and electrical cable route Plan should be prepared by the coatemed S&T and Electrical officers respectively and got approved as stipulated in para C- 12 before undertaking the work, The completion cable rowe plan should be finalized block section by bluck secifon as soon as the work is completed. All cable laying works shall be executed ay per ‘aid down technical specifications, Such as protection measures’pro‘ective Sover, compaction of refilled materia! er, pa font = | . . —_— eats Epis Ss ae mi) Ever. Dir. Exec. Dir. Exee, Dir. Exes. Dir, Exec. Dir. Sigoal Devel. Elect. Enery (M} ‘Telecom (Dev) Works Civil Engg: (P) fogs alts (SK Ssxena) (Shobha Chaudhuri) (VP Dudeja) _ (Sarindey/ Pek!