Terrible in Balasore, Odisha Balasore Train Accident It is the deadliest of major train accidents in recent years. Such a big train accident did not happen in the last several years. More than 288 people were killed in this accident while about one thousand passengers were injured. Significantly, many rail accidents have happened in the country even before this, but considering the technological development in the last few years, this accident was terrible. In June 1981, a train fell into the Bhagmati river in Bihar, in which more than 700 people lost their lives. In August 1995, Purushottam Express collided with Kalindi Express at Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh. More than 300 people lost their lives in this accident. In November 1998, the Jammu Tawi-Sealdah Express rammed the Frontier Golden Temple Mail in Punjab, killing over 200 people. In August 1999, the Brahmaputra Mail crashed into the Avadh Assam Express, killing over 280 people.
Questions raised on signaling system
After this accident, serious questions are being raised about the safety and signaling system installed by the Indian Railways. Initial reports suggested that a signaling problem could be a major reason for the three-train derailment. So didn’t Kavach, the radio-based indigenous automatic collision protection system, help avert it? Kavach is such an important tool, using which the possibility of rail accident becomes absolutely ‘zero’. So was the armor system active at the crash site in Balasore? If the answer is ‘yes’ then the question is why did it fail to do its job?
Was the armor system installed at the accident site?
Senior officials of the Signal Department of the Railways on the condition of anonymity TV9 India Told that at present there was no armor system in this route. Here it is a work in progress and Railways has not yet implemented it for many trains including Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, Howrah Superfast Express and Stationary Goods Train. He told that it is mandatory to install the system in all trains with a speed of more than 140 km per hour, but if the second part of the system is not in the route, then the armor system placed in the train will also not work. So it is a continuous process and we are working on it.
What is Armor Protection System?
The armor system includes ground signaling system and signaling equipment in the loco pilot’s cabin. The ground signaling system sends a signal to the equipment kept in the loco pilot’s cabin when immediate braking is required in an emergency. Kavach does not allow any train to jump the red signal. Kavach controls the speed of the train by applying brakes automatically if the loco pilot fails to apply the brakes.
- Its line-side signal is useful at high speed and in foggy weather.
- It is a system that keeps on updating continuously.
- It establishes communication with the loco directly, preventing collisions.
- Support SOS feature in case of any accident to control the trains in the surrounding areas.
Could armor help?
According to the railway official, ‘The main work of Kavach is done on the red signal. If the loco pilot fails to apply the brakes, it automatically stops the train from crossing the red signal.
Armor works like this:
- Kavach prevents trains from jumping red signal automatically as ground system makes train’s system more alert. In the Balasore accident, the signal was not red but green. While the trains were on their track in normal speed.
- The officer said that in the event of two trains being on the same track, the armor can help. Trains can send signals to each other from a safe distance. But Balasore accident does not come in this category. The trains were on different tracks and were flagged off.
- Had the trains involved in the Balasore accident been armored and had a time gap of a few minutes, the derailed train could have sent a signal to the oncoming train and the oncoming train could have applied brakes automatically.
- According to the official, in this case, there was the shortest time gap between the derailment of Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express and Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express.
- An important feature of Kavach is the black-box. It can record all the accident details and help in the investigation.
These details suggest that the timing had little chance of averting the horrific accident. If there was time even for a few minutes, there is a possibility that the train coming later could have been saved.
Where is the armor in the country?
Indian Railways is one of the largest rail network in the world. Out of 70,000 km, Indian Railways has so far installed Kavach Signaling based Automatic Security System on 1500 km route, which includes South Central Railway. The system has been installed in 150 locomotives including all Vande Bharat trains. The official told TV9 that there is a plan to install armor in trains covering a distance of about 35,000 km. Railways has spent about 200 crores on this. Importantly, the system is present in both the locomotive and the route. Therefore, even if Kavach is installed in all Vande Bharat trains, it is important that the system is implemented on its route as well for it to be effective.
Also read: Seeing the devastation and the injured, Prime Minister Modi was in pain
Source: www.tv9hindi.com”
