Central Railway to install speed-sensing devices in Western Ghats

In a bid to make train travel safer during the monsoon, Central Railway (CR) plans to install speed-sensing devices in the Mumbai-Pune/Nashik rail corridors

Mumbai: In a bid to make train travel safer in the Western Ghats during the monsoon, Central Railway (CR) plans to install speed-sensing devices in the Mumbai-Pune/Nashik rail corridors. According to sources, the device will monitor and control train speeds when they operate in the ghats.

CR to install speed-sensing devices in ghats

CR will install the devices in the Karjat-Lonavala and Kasara-Igatpuri sections before the monsoon. The Bhor and Thal ghats have a steep gradient of 1:37, which means a train climbs one metre at a distance of every 37 metres.

“This device, aimed at augmenting safety in the system, will indicate when a train crosses the permissible speed in the ghats and can accordingly bring it under control,” said a senior CR official.

At present, trains must halt at specific locations on the Karjat-Khopoli-Lonavala and Kasara-Igatpuri sections as a safety measure. This leads to a two-to-four-minute stop before a train can accelerate once again. This system will be done away with once the speed-sensing devices are in place.

Sources said the device is being tested at Monkey Hill Cabin station on the Karjat-Lonavala belt and is awaiting final approvals from necessary departments and authorities.

CR is also testing AI-based instruments and devices that can sense the health of tunnels and hillocks, along with capturing and documenting the minutest changes in their parameters.

“We are working on advanced technology to monitor the dangerous slopes, rock formations outside and over and tunnels. Even the darkest spots and areas inside a tunnel, which are difficult to spot in case of a crack or deformity, can be scanned and faults identified,” said another CR official.

While the methodology is still being worked out, CR officials said they are looking at a holistic system wherein faults can be notified on mobile phones through an app or software.