In order to ensure proper visibility of tracks, especially visibility at curvature locations, the East Coast Railway has designed, developed and provided Four Beam Headlights in its locomotives, which is the first of its kind in the Indian Railways.
Generally, the locomotives run by the Indian Railways are provided with Twin Beam Headlights where the focus of the headlight is on a straight line.
The Electric loco Shed at Visakhapatnam has developed the Four Beam Headlights where the bulbs are arranged in such a way that the top two bulbs are focused in straight line, similar to the existing twin beam light, and the bottom bulbs are focused towards both sides of the track.
When a locomotive provided with Four Beam Headlights negotiates a curvature, the bottom bulbs are focused on the curved track. As a result, the driver of the train will be able to see in a better manner the track at curvature including notice of removal of rails, any abnormality on track due to miscreant activities or sudden movement of stray animals, etc. As a result, the drivers of the train will also be able to reduce the speed of the train.
The relevance of the newly-designed headlights will gather more importance in view of recent incidences of removal of rails by miscreants or need felt for better visibility at curves or near level crossings, etc, said an ECoR release on Wednesday.