The Railways has also decided to install equipment called the Centre Buffer Coupling. (File)
In a move to create a "zero accident" network, the Indian Railways has decided to install coach-defect monitoring systems on 65 rail sections across the country.
Officials said these include 25 sections on Central and Western Railway, both of which have an extensive rail network in Maharashtra.
"The sections on WR and CR where we plan to have these systems include Wardha-Nagpur and Bhusawal-Jalgaon on CR and Mumbai-Surat and Surat-Baroda on WR," a senior official of Northern Railway said.
It will cost Rs 115 crore to set up the system in these 25 sections, the official said.
Explaining the mechanism, Arun Arora, principal chief mechanical engineer, NR, said, "The Online Monitoring of Rolling Stock (OMRS) system involves the placing of microphones and sensors in such a way that they record any audible noise or measure forces generated while a wagon, coach or locomotive is in motion."
"The OMRS equipment is extremely sensitive and accurate and can detect the most minute of abnormal noises emanating from rolling stock (railway term for trains)and will alert the control room immediately," he said.
He informed that the trial of the OMRS on the busy Lucknow-Delhi stretch was successful following which it was installed on the Delhi-Panipat section.
"This system allows us is to do away with the current method which involves the physical examination of rolling stock in workshops," Mr Arora said.
Another official said that it would ensure faster maintenance of coaches and also allow coaches to be monitored using mobile communication facilities.
The Railways has also decided to install equipment called the Centre Buffer Coupling (CBC) to ensure that coaches of a train don't climb onto each other in case of a derailment, an official said.
The coupling is a piece of equipment that binds coaches of a train into one unit.
Older, conventional coaches made at the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory have screw coupling which tend to rip apart due to the impact of a derailment, an official explained.
The newer Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) coaches are fitted with CBC which prevent extensive damage to coaches in case of a derailment.