NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): The Railway Board has decided to execute 20 new ‘Made in India‘ innovations by its workers to make passenger train journeys safer and improve comfort.
These innovations would add advanced passenger facilities like a warning bell to alert passengers minutes before a train departs, real-time CCTV monitoring inside coaches, the printing of unreserved tickets through mobile applications – on a mass scale.
Railway Board has issued the order to all zonal general managers and production units to gear up for the implementation of these ideas in next three months. All most all the innovations are aimed at technical improvements to boost safety and passenger comfort.
Here are some of the innovations indigenously developed by various zones and divisions of Indian railways:
Ultrasonic detection of rails: The North Central Railway (NCR), Prayagraj has developed a vehicular system for ultrasonic flaw detection of rails, which is currently done manually. The carriage and wagon department of Prayagraj division of NCR has developed a detector for hot axle box in running trains much before a possible derailment due to seizure.
Pyrometers: The Malda division of Eastern Railway has used pyrometers to monitor the speed and temperature of tracks.
Natural water coolers: The Western Railway (WR) has developed natural water coolers, with zero electric consumption, each at a cost of Rs 1.25 lakh with a lifespan of ten years. The system works on the principle of heat transfer where water is passed through copper coils which are covered with cooling fabric active through a water dripping system. These coolers have been installed at Borivali, Dahanu Road, Nandurbar, Udhana, and Bandra railway stations.
A bell system: This system is developed by the Prayagraj division which alerts passengers at platforms that the train is ready to depart within two minutes and they should occupy their seats. This is already in use on platform number one of the Prayagraj junction railway station.
Real-time CCTV footage: On the list is also a system to monitor real-time CCTV footage on-board trains. While the coaches in Humsafar trains have CCTV surveillance, the footage is not monitored in real-time. The NCR has developed a system for real-time monitoring inside trains and has installed it in all 18 coaches of Humsafar trains.
The CCTV display unit is provided in the guard’s compartment and the videos can be recorded and viewed later; it is aimed at quick resolution of crimes on-board trains.
Air quality monitoring: Another innovation the Indian Railways is looking at is air quality monitoring equipment developed by NCR and installed at Prayagraj Junction railway station.
Unreserved tickets through apps: With the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) encouraging people to go contact-less, the Northern Railway (NR) developed a system through which they issued unreserved tickets through mobile apps and Bluetooth printers.
This Mobile App helped Railways to open online UTS ticketing counters at stations, platforms, tent cities and passenger holding areas without UTS connectivity and uninterrupted power supply as these devices work on lithium-ion batteries and SIM cards.
In addition to the above, Indian Railways has developed the first ‘Post-COVID Coach’ to ensure a COVID free journey. The coach would have amenities like Handsfree, Copper-coated handrails & latches, Plasmdioxide, Titanium di-oxide coating etc.
