MG Gireeshan (30), a Chennai-based post-graduate in electronics, who has nearly 150 scientific innovations and inventions to his credit had developed an integrated circuit based system in 2010 to prevent the unprecedented number of accidents happening at unmanned level crossings in the country. “It is a simple technology and will save the Railway authorities from headaches associated with land acquisition for constructing road over bridges or subways,” Gireeshan told The Pioneer.
The integrated circuit based system developed by Gireeshan works on a series of sensors. “You have stations A and B. When the train leaves station A, the station master puts on a switch which activates the IC. This will lead to gates of all unmanned level crossings in the stretch from station A to B getting closed automatically. Warning lights installed at the unmanned level crossings will alert drivers of vehicles that the train is on the way. The gates will open once the train crosses the unmanned level crossings,” explained Gireeshan.
If any vehicle gets trapped in the level crossings, the driver could open the gate with the help of a switch installed at the gate. “The gate could be opened for two minutes so that the driver of the vehicle can bring his vehicle out. If the driver could not get the gate opened, the engine of the train would come to a stop at least 300 meters from the level crossing because of the sensor attached on the engine,” said Gireeshan. This system will cost less than Rs7,000 claims Gireeshan.
The Railways spend crores to build a road over bridge or subway. Since Indian Railways do not allow outsiders to test such instruments on the tracks, Gireeshan set up a small stretch of track in his house and tested successfully the efficacy of his innovation. “This is a workable technology which could be given a try by the Indian Railways,” said Prof P Shankar, former senior scientist, Department of Artomic Energy who interviewed Gireeshan. “We may have to make alterations here and there but this is a workable system which should be seriously considered by the Railways,” Shankar, who heads Saveeta School of Engineering told The Pioneer.
“There are 31, 254 level crossings on Indian Railways. Out of these crossings, 12,500 are unmanned level crossings. More than 40 per cent of the rail accidents are due to unmanned level crossings. The seriousness of the accidents at unmanned level crossings could be understood from the fact that 66 percent of these accidents result in loss of human lives,” said A K Rastogi, divisional manager, Madurai Division, Indian Railways.