Joe Shearer
PROFESSIONAL
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2009
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- 27,493
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Kavach goes beyond Manual Signalling, Block Signalling and Automatic Signalling, and their combination with Electronic Interlocking. Kavach determines precisely where each locomotive is, based on RFID cards embedded in the rolling stock, and read by RFID readers in the track or along the track. This is supposed to monitor each individual train and its location, and to take action remotely to slow down, or even halt, trains in dangerous proximity.
Kavach had not been installed on this vital trunk line between Calcutta/Howrah and Madras, a trunk route that millions have used; I was myself a regular user during my Madras years, for myself and wife and child, and it was the best way of travel between the two locations.
What happened was shocking.
There were three trains involved, two of them fast express trains, the Coromandel, going north south, and the Yeshvantpur-Shalimar, going south to north. Normally, the goods train should have been parked on the loop line, and the two fast trains sent straight through, on their respective through lines of track.
Instead, the Coromandel was put on the through line, correctly, AND THEN, AT THE LAST MOMENT, SHIFTED TO THE LOOP LINE. There, it hit the goods train, derailed, and fell into the path of the onrushing Yesh-Shal express.
Besides the initial heavy casualties when the Coromandel hit the stationary goods train, there were further heavy casualties when the Yesh-Shal ran into the derailed wreckage.
Those defending the Railways are saying that this was purely human error; the Coromandel should never have been shunted onto the loop line.
Those unhappy with the Railways are saying that this was precisely what was to be expected if funds and management attention were to be diverted to fast trophy trains like Vande Bharat, rather than to implementing Kavach on all lines. If Kavach had been in place, the moment the Coromandel entered the loop line, the presence of the goods train in its path would have been sensed, and the Coromandel first slowed, then, if needed, halted. The accident would not have happened.
@salarsikander
I would like to thank you for the kind words and genuine sorrow you have expressed, and to bow to your display of humanity. You have been very gracious about the achievements of the Indian Railways, and your good wishes for them will no doubt stand them in good stead for the future.
Thank you very much.
Kavach had not been installed on this vital trunk line between Calcutta/Howrah and Madras, a trunk route that millions have used; I was myself a regular user during my Madras years, for myself and wife and child, and it was the best way of travel between the two locations.
What happened was shocking.
There were three trains involved, two of them fast express trains, the Coromandel, going north south, and the Yeshvantpur-Shalimar, going south to north. Normally, the goods train should have been parked on the loop line, and the two fast trains sent straight through, on their respective through lines of track.
Instead, the Coromandel was put on the through line, correctly, AND THEN, AT THE LAST MOMENT, SHIFTED TO THE LOOP LINE. There, it hit the goods train, derailed, and fell into the path of the onrushing Yesh-Shal express.
Besides the initial heavy casualties when the Coromandel hit the stationary goods train, there were further heavy casualties when the Yesh-Shal ran into the derailed wreckage.
Those defending the Railways are saying that this was purely human error; the Coromandel should never have been shunted onto the loop line.
Those unhappy with the Railways are saying that this was precisely what was to be expected if funds and management attention were to be diverted to fast trophy trains like Vande Bharat, rather than to implementing Kavach on all lines. If Kavach had been in place, the moment the Coromandel entered the loop line, the presence of the goods train in its path would have been sensed, and the Coromandel first slowed, then, if needed, halted. The accident would not have happened.
@salarsikander
I would like to thank you for the kind words and genuine sorrow you have expressed, and to bow to your display of humanity. You have been very gracious about the achievements of the Indian Railways, and your good wishes for them will no doubt stand them in good stead for the future.
Thank you very much.