Konkan Railways’ safety device attracts foreign attention

Even as the anti-collision device developed by Konkan Railways struggles to gain acceptance at home, it is creating quite a few ripples in international circle.

Even as the anti-collision device (ACD) developed by Konkan Railways struggles to gain acceptance at home, it is creating quite a few ripples in international circle. One of the countries to make a beeline for the technology is next-door neighbour Pakistan that witnessed a triple passenger train collision which killed more than 150 people in July 2005.

‘‘It was during the International Railway Safety Conference in South Africa last year that Pakistan and South Africa first showed interest in the ACD. Fresh from the triple train collision in Ghotki where one express train collided into a stationary train and then a third train rammed head-on into the wreckage, Pakistani officials were particularly keen on acquiring the ACD for their rail network,’’ said a senior Konkan Railway official.

‘‘A few weeks later, Pakistan authorities sent queries about the product to our technology partner Kernex Microsystems,’’ the official added. Hyderabad-based Kernex Microsystems Indian Ltd has an exclusive licence from Konkan Railway to manufacture the ACD under the trademark Raksha Kavach.

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About the same time, the South Africans also e-mailed Konkan Railway authorities seeking more details about the product. The sudden international interest got further underlined when representatives from China, Indonesia and Thailand sought detailed information at the recently held Asian Railway Exhibition in Bangkok.

But despite the euphoria generated by these international queries, Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd has not been able to pursue the matter with prospective buyers in the absence of a final certification by the Railway Ministry’s Research Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO) based at Lucknow. ‘‘The basic functionalities of the ACD have been cleared by the RDSO. Only a few tests remain. We’ll put up our case for certification before RDSO sometime this month and hope to get a clearance soon,’’ said a Konkan Railway officials.

The certification, however, may not come easily with ‘‘as many as 19 anomalies” pointed out in the functioning of the ACD. ‘‘After conducting extensive trials on the Northeast Frontier Railway, it has been discovered that the ACD is mainly software-based and the concept of fail-safety has not been used in its development. To put it simply, if the system fails there is no back-up,’’ said a Railway Board official, requesting anonymity. ‘‘During trials, we discovered problems like unwanted braking and spurious messages of head-on and rear-end collisions,’’ the official added. ‘‘The system needs much higher levels of safety integrity before it can be cleared for mass use,’’ he said.

Senior Railway Board officials, however, maintained that the ACD was a reliable product and was delivering what it was meant to. ‘‘The system was found to be overdoing at times and was acting in a hyper-sensitive manner. This, at times, resulted in unwanted braking and false alarms. However, corrections are in progress and improvements are being made,’’ said a Board official. ‘‘We hope to make NF Railway 100 percent collision-free first and have set a target date of installing the system on the entire Indian Railway network by 2013-14,’’ he added.

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Presently, a total 1,800 ACDs are already functioning in Northeast Frontier (NF) Railways from Malda to Tinsukia. ACD towers have been erected at 185 railway stations and 223 locomotives have already been fitted with ACD equipment. Around 140 level crossing gates in NF Railway also have ACD apparatus in place. Indian Railways plan to spend a whopping Rs 2,000 crores to install ACD system on 52,000 kilometers by 2013-14.

What is an ACD

Anti Collision Device (ACD) is self-acting microprocessor- based data communication equipment. When installed on Locomotives (along with Auto Braking Units), Guard Vans, Stations and Level Crossing gates (both manned as well as unmanned), the resultant network of ACD systems prevents high speed collisions in mid-sections, station areas and at level crossing gates.

How it works

The network of Anti-Collision Devices includes on-board ACDs for locomotives and Guard Vans and track-side ACDs for railway stations and level crossings. Using radio communication, the ACDs communicate with each other within a range of 3 kilometers. The ACDs installed on trains use Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine train location, speed, course angle of travel and time. With tracks mapped through satellite and assigned unique IDs, the system activates automatic braking if two trains come on the same track. The system also gives audio-visual warning to road users at level crossings in the event of an approaching train.