Warning system for unmanned level crossings

October 26, 2015 Hot from the Oven Valli Sarvani No comments

In order to improve the unmanned level crossings, Indian Railways has developed a vandal-proof warning system. So far, the system has been working well for the last three months on Coimbatore-Metupallayam section.

The Railways’ research wing called Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) has finalised the specifications of the system. They recommended it to all zonal railways so that they can start installing the warning systems. This system will help prevent many accidents.

It was found that about 40 percent of the train accidents are mishaps that occur at level crossings. Furthermore, around 60 percent of fatalities are found to occur because of the failure of the railways to man these crossings or construct road over bridges or underpasses.

In India, there are 30,347 level crossings. However, 11,563 of these are unmanned and they are responsible for many accidents every year. The new system has two blinkers and one siren. They help alert people when a train is within one km radius of the level crossing.

An official from Railway Ministry stated the system has a solar panel. The system also has a theft protection system to prevent vandalism at the level crossing. It will send an SMS alert to pre-programmed mobile numbers.

The system has two sensor modules and a control module. They detect train movements and the alerts from siren and blinker are triggered when the train is within one km of the level crossing. The sensor modules are placed within one km of level crossing so as to detect train movement on track.

This useful system has been developed by a Mumbai-based vendor and RDSO. RDSO has sent a letter to the Railway Board in which it recommended that each railway zone is advised to install at least one or two of these systems for field trials before starting the large scale development.

Image Credit: Nriyer64 / CC BY-SA 4.0