Train Protection Warning System, a system to prevent accidents owing to human error by way of not following the signals, already installed in the Chennai-Central-Gummudipoondi section will be extended to the Arakkonam and Chengalpattu sections, Southern Railway Chief Signal and Telecommunications Engineer A.V. Sivaprasad said.
Works for the installation of the system is under way, Mr. Sivaprasad, who was here to distribute awards to the employees of his department, told The Hindu on Tuesday.
Stating that the system, now working in Gummudipoondi section, is well appreciated by the loco-pilots, Mr. Sivaprasad said it would automatically bring the running trains to a halt whenever the loco-pilots fail to acknowledge the signal.
No accident
The reliability of railway signalling system has improved so much in the last one year that no accident was reported owing to the failure of signals in the entire country, he said. As part of the measures to prevent accidents at unmanned level-crossings, a total of 191 level-crossings in the Southern Railway would be provided with interlocking signals during the current financial year.
The Indian Railway is now installing sophisticated electronic interlocking signalling systems that would further ensure reliability. The electro-mechanical signals being used are imported from Austria and Germany, whereas the advanced system is indigenous.
“The electronic interlocking system is being installed in 10 railway stations in the Tiruchi-Dindigul section where doubling work is under way,” Mr. Sivaprasad said.
