Space tech to help Indian Railways alert people at unmanned crossings
A satellite-based system will now alert road users at unmanned level crossings about approaching trains and also help in tracking train movement on a real-time basis. The space technology, adopted with the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will warn road users through hooters once a train approaches an unmanned level crossing. The Railways is installing ISRO-developed integrated circuit (IC) chips on 10,000 locomotives.
About 500 m before a level crossing, the hooter will be activated through a signal from the IC chip, warning road users as well as the train drivers near the crossing. The hooter will become louder as the level crossing nears, and will fall silent after the train has passed.
On a pilot basis, two level crossing gates in Sonepur division on the Delhi-Guwahati Rajdhani route are to be equipped with the ISRO system, and will be shortly followed by a few gates on the Delhi-Mumbai route. Trials would be conducted on these two busy rail corridors and, according to the plan, all level crossings will be equipped with the ISRO system in phases, said a senior railway ministry official who did not want to be named.
Besides alerting road users, the satellite-based system will also be used for tracking trains to disseminate information about their movement on a real-time basis. At present, train movement-related information is maintained manually, leaving scope for inaccuracies.
The trial for the real-time train information system is already being carried out on Mumbai Rajdhani and Guwahati Rajdhani services, said the official. Safety at unmanned level crossings, which witness the maximum mishaps, is a cause of serious concern for the Railways. The public transporter had explored various ways to address the issue before settling for the ISRO system.
A few locos are being equipped with the device and the installation of hooters at unmanned level crossing gates is gradually being carried out on the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Guwahati routes. There are about 7,254 unmanned railway crossings in the country which account for around 40 percent of accidents involving the Railways. The number of manned level crossings is about 18,000. While the Railways had eliminated 1,148 unmanned crossings in 2014–15 and 1,253 in 2015–16, it has scaled up its target and now plans to eliminate all such crossings in the next two to three years.
Once all unmanned level crossings are eliminated, the hooter system would be shifted to manned level crossings as per the plan. The satellite-based system will also help the Railways in mapping the area and the technology will come in handy at the time of accidents when it can be used to ascertain the topography and exact location of trains.
With inputs from IANS.
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