South Western Railway pitches for automatic signaling

Bengaluru: South Western Railway's Bengaluru division has sent a proposal to the Railway Ministry seeking sanction of Rs 309 crore to implement the much needed automatic signaling, which would help improve punctuality. Many railway zones in the country have already installed it.

Divisional Railway Manager R.S. Saxena, who had sent the proposal in August, said, “The main benefit of automatic signalling is that we will be able to run more train services. It works on permissive electronic circuitry and programmed logic. With manual, we take more time to lower or raise levers for signalling.”

A part of the proposal copy shared by CPRO Vijaya shows five sections – KSR - Whitefield, KSR - Mandya, KSR -Yeshwanthpur-Tumakuru, Yeshwanthpur-Yelahanka, Yelahanka-KR Puram and Hosur Road-Baiyappanahallu-Lottegollahalli.

"At present, the station controller has to concentrate on one train at a time. If train A leaves KSR, train B cannot leave from here until train A reaches Cantonment station," explained Sanjeev Dyamnavar, a Transport Expert.

"The controller at KSR will be getting multiple calls asking for clearance of trains coming from Kengeri, K.R. Puram, Hosur all at once," he added.

Krishna Prasad, member of Karnataka Railway Vedike commented that delay of passenger and freight trains will be solved with automatic signalling, as two trains can get clearance at once.

If implemented it will be a game changer as it will increase frequency and improve punctuality of the city's trains.