Title - Railways to improve safety levels with communications-based control system

Indian Railways plans to roll out a communications-based train management system that provides higher precision in locating trains when compared to the conventional signalling systems, S. Manohar, Chief Signal and Telecommunication Engineer, Southern Railway, said on Friday.

Addressing a function to mark the World Telecommunication Day organised by Southern Railway, Mr. Manohar said the CBTC or Communications-Based Train Control systems would facilitate a more efficient and safe way to manage railway traffic.

Metro rail networks and other railway systems in a few cities were already adopting this technology which improved the safety levels.

According to Mr. Manohar, RailTel Chennai, would be implementing the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) in Tamil Nadu, which along with Gujarat, are the only two States selected for the NOFN project. The nationwide plan to connect all 2,50,000 gram panchayats in the country is being implemented by utilising the existing fibres of PSUs (BSNL, Railtel and Power Grid) and laying incremental fibre, he said.

Some of the technology-driven projects implemented in Southern Railway were the Train Protection Warning System, Integrated Security System and train Management System in two suburban sections in Chennai, he said.

Rakesh Misra, Southern Railway General Manager, inaugurated an exhibition and released a compendium which contains important letters pertaining to telecommunication to serve as a ready reckoner. G. Narayanan, Additional General Manager, spoke.

Keywords: Indian Railways, train management system, World Telecommunication Day, CBTC, RailTel Chennai, Train Protection Warning System, Southern Railway