Electronic Early Warning System – a Boon to Railway staff working alongside Tracks

Electronic Early Warning System – a Boon to Railway staff working alongside Tracks

Mumbai: To overcome the recurring accidents involving rail track maintenance teams of railway employees getting hit by running trains during the routine maintenance of railway tracks, Mumbai Railway Division have come up with Electronic Early Warning System (EEWS).

New electronic early warning system’s sensors detect the arrival of trains and transfer the signals to hooters installed at the work site. Following the alarm,  the workers proceed to a safe site before the train arrives at the work site.

Number of accidents on the railway track involving railway employees has reached alarming proportion. According to the railway data, in 2011-12 an estimated 147 accidents took place and eight members of maintenance team succumbed and remaining lost their limbs.

In 2012-13, the accident figure rose sharply to 191 and seven railway employees died in these accidents. In 2013-14, a total of 209 accidents were recorded and number of death rose to 16. In the present year from April to July, 108 accidents have taken place even as two employees died in the accidents while the rest lost their limbs.

These accidents took place despite use of the conventional manual alarm system. In the conventional manual alarm system, two people stand on two opposite directions of the work site holding red flags to indicate to the coming trains, ‘Go slow, work is progress’.

However, conventional alarming systems had significant shortcomings like distance being too short to decrease the speed of the train, person holding flag takes break for loo and sometimes due to low visibility, flag is not visible from distance and all these factors cumulatively led to accidents.

The new system for additional safety of work site has been developed by the Mumbai division. It can detect the vibrations in the track through an accelerometer at 1200 metres ahead of work site and transfers signals to the receiver unit at the work site which activates the hooter.

Chief Public Relation Officer Narendra Patil said, “This new system is  pathfinding. It will save scores of lives of railway employees who work on railway track and are vulnerable to being hit by railways.”

He added, “Maximum delay recorded in the detection and activation of alarm is just five seconds which is considerably very effective. Above all the entire unit is very cost effective. Besides, it is very handy, weighing a mere 500 grams, which is lightweight to carry to the work site.”