Prayagraj: IR announces two mega projects for faster, safer train journeys

With an aim to provide safer train journeys to the passengers, Indian Railways (IR) would soon introduce two major concepts in train operations

With an aim to provide safer train journeys to the passengers, Indian Railways (IR) would soon introduce two major concepts in train operations.

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The Railways have approved Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), an indigenously developed system, which will help in avoiding train collisions thereby ensuring passenger safety, inform railway officials.

Apart from this, the Prime Minister has approved the proposal for the allotment of 5 MHz Spectrum in 700 MHz frequency band to IR for public safety and security services at stations and in trains. With this spectrum, IR has envisaged providing LTE or Long Term Evolution based mobile train radio communication on its route. The estimated investment in the project is more than ₹25,000 crore. The project will be completed in the next five years, informed CPRO, North Central Railways (NCR), Dr Shivam Sharma.

“This indigenously developed ATP or Automatic Train Protection system would help in avoiding train collisions thereby reducing accidents and ensuring passenger safety,” said Sharma. This would be extremely helpful in maintaining the speed of the trains in the foggy conditions as the engine would automatically adjust the speed and there cannot be overshooting of signal, he added.

Likewise, the purpose of the LTE for Indian Railways is to provide secure and reliable voice, video and data communication services for operational, safety and security applications. It will be used for modern signalling and train protection systems and ensure seamless communication between loco pilots and guards. It will also enable the Internet of Things (IoT) based remote asset monitoring especially of coaches and wagons, and live video feed of CCTV cameras in the train coaches to ensure efficient, safer and faster train operations.

“Projects for provision of TCAS and LTE in NCR are envisaged in both Highly Density Networks (HDN) routes i.e. Palwal-Bina and Pundit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction-Ghaziabad and also in Highly Utilized Networks (HUN) routes, Kanpur-Jhansi, Naini-Manikpur and Chunar-Chopan among others. With the allotment of the spectrum, this work will gain momentum, said principal chief signal and telecom engineer, NCR Arun Kumar.