Winter is coming! If you are worried about your train being delayed in this winter season, blow your fears away! Indian Railways is now planning to implement a lot of innovative techniques to avoid delaying of railways due to foggy weather in the winter.
Let’s find out what techniques will be implemented by Indian Railways for making sure the railways reach passengers on time!
Modified Automatic System For Signalling
A modified automatic system for signalling has been employed in the Northern Railways (NR) and North Central Railways (NCR) zones. This system will boost the level of safety when trains are running in the automatic block signalling sections. Its also puts a limit on the number of trains travelling between two railway stations in the winter where there is a lot of fog.
Painting Signal Boards With Bright And Easily Available Colours
The signal boards on the railway network, passenger and goods warning boards, signals at railway stations, interlocked level crossing gates, and the semaphore signal arms have been painted with vibrant and bright colours or luminous strips. The bright colours will increase the visibility of the boards, and will, therefore, help catch the eye of the pilots of the locomotives.
Inspection During Foggy Weather
Official inspection and night inspection will be conducted at the officer and supervisor level, are being conducted, especially during the foggy weather. This will make the maintenance staff alert and spread awareness amongst them as well.
Indian Railways’ Loco Pilots Will Be Given Fog PASS Devices
Fog PASS devices have been handed out to loco pilots to help them with the movement of the train in the winter fog. These are devices that are enabled with GPS and are handheld portable devices and are given to the loco pilots who work in the areas that have huge amounts of fog.
These devices help the pilots by using audio visual alarm which goes off if there is a landmark within the geo-fence range of the locomotive.
These devices have been fed with vital information, such as the location of the stations, signals, warning boards, level crossing gates as well as the whistle for level crossing (W/L) boards in the section. The device is used to know the speed of the locomotive, distance and time required to reach the landmarks. About 12,205 Fog PASS devices have been handed out to the Indian Railways network.