The TPWS, currently installed in several railway routes in the country, is a mechanism that ensures that trains don't jump signals due to the mistake of motormen piloting local trains or loco pilots driving long-distance trains.
The busy Pune-Lonavla-Karjat line running along the ghats – one of the toughest topographies for train running in the country – will be getting the Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) at a cost of Rs48.52 crore.
The work has made its way into the railway ministry's work schedule for the year with a token amount of Rs1,000 being sanctioned for it. Work is expected to begin in full swing on the 78km stretch by the next financial year, say sources.
The TPWS, currently installed in several railway routes in the country, is a mechanism that ensures that trains don't jump signals due to the mistake of motormen piloting local trains or loco pilots driving long-distance trains.
This phenomenon – called Signal Passing at Danger or SPAD – is among the railway's biggest safety bugbears and every year sees several cases of SPAD on various routes. The Pune-Lonavla-Karjat route sees both suburban locals, called Electrical Multiple Units, as well as long-distance trains and chances of SPAD remain high.
The TPWS mechanism comprises a set of transmitters located near the tracks and inside the driver's cab of the train, which act jointly to apply the brakes of any such runaway train. "An on-track transmitter is placed adjacent to a signal. This gets activated automatically when the signal is in 'danger' mode, a mode which indicates that there is a train somewhere ahead of the signal and any train crossing the signal will almost certainly ram into the train ahead. Any train passing this signal will have the transmitter act in such a way that the brakes of the train are applied," explained an official.
A transmitter set before the signal does the same with trains that pass it at speeds which indicate that the train wouldn't be able to stop at the signal in its normal course of braking. "A TPWS can stop trains which are speeds of even 120km per hour," he added.
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