Railways installs 2000 Digital Axle Counters in Mumbai stations

Railways installs 2000 Digital Axle Counters in Mumbai stations

Mumbai: To surpass disruption of services during monsoon due to rising waters, the Central Railway installed 2000 Digital Axle Counters (DAC) at stations in Mumbai.

A senior railway official said “Almost 2000 DACs have been installed between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Kurla on the central line and CST-Chembur on the harbour line. These will help in understanding movements on the tracks, which will help us to send proper signals. This will avoid inconvenience to commuters.”

A DAC is a sensor installed on railway tracks. It indicates to the signalling department to study the movement of trains. The CR has provided more of these DACs, which were previously installed only at some stations in the city.

The CR claimed it has identified primary locations vulnerable to inundation. Along with this, the railway has said, it has added plastic sheets to signalling units and other auxiliary working systems to avoid water retention during the monsoon. Officials claimed they have put silica gel and tapes on such units to prevent any leakage.

DACs are fail-safe 2/2 microcontroller based axle counting system for section proving in Railways. DACs can be configured to various versions using fool-proof method thus prevents wrong configuration at site, ensures highest degree of safety. Operating mode like preparatory, clear and occupied, configuration status, wheel counts and error messages are constantly displayed on the system LCD status panel and interactive Reset box.

Magnetic sensors detects the axle counts and direction of train movements that is transmitted to the other end of the system to verify and clear the block. Wheel sensed at one DP will cleared at any DP. The section status can be fed directly to further controlling systems through vital relay contacts. Each section has two or three detection points based on configurations. System unit is housed near the track with its DP placed at a variable distance of 15 Mts.

Reliable communication between systems with a cable loss of 30dB using V.23 FSK modem at 1200bps, assured by CRC check with redundant messages. Fixed pair communication along with interlocked addressing between units ensures fail-safety. Built-in event logger logs normal and error data that can be downloaded on to a PC using RS232 serial port. Additional FSK modem available in event logger card connected to interactive Rest Box at station (requires extra pair in quad cable). User-friendly GUI aids to print reports. The device works on 24 VDC power supply, integrated with lightening surge protectors. Stable operation could be witnessed even at adverse environmental conditions from –10°C to 70°C and reliable train detection by sensors exposed to water clogging due to heavy rains could be achieved.