Railways to provide automatic brake system to curb accidents

New Delhi, Sept 23: The Indian railways have now decided to install Train Protection Warning System (TPWS) on the busy routes of Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi- Kolkata in the first phase. The decision has been taken in the backdrop of recent railway accidents.

The system will provide an automatic application of emergency brakes in case if the loco pilot overshoots the red signal. The required cost for the installation is at high side estimated at around Rs 50 lakh per kilometre.

Meanwhile, a pilot project is going on in trail basis in 200 km distance on Delhi-Agra route and 60 km on Chennai-Gumudipundi route for which railways have underlined around Rs 250 crore. TPWS will also cover the suburban rail routes of Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.

"The trial is at the final stage. We are planning to install TPWS after certain modifications in some of our busiest routes in the first phase," said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project.

In recent train accident in Chennai in which Chennai Beach-Vellore electric multiple unit (EMU) rammed the Arakkonam-Katpadi passenger train, while the train was waiting for green signal near Sitheri station in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district. The collision lead to the derailment of 5 bogies of the Arakkonam-Katpadi train and left 10 people dead. Which happened due to driver error for overshot the red signal.

"An equipment has to be installed in the loco cabin and another in the signal pole along the rail track to make the TPWS operational," the official said.

"As per the plan, we will cover the 2500 km automatic signalling system route with TPWS in the first phase including busy Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata route and also the suburban section of Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai," he added.

The train protection warning system has been operational in the suburban section of Central and Western Railway from last 15 years where it has been very effective as no accidents were reported in the last 15 years.

OneIndia News