india

Updated: May 26, 2018 08:15 IST

In a move that will decongest the busiest route of Indian railways, the railway board has approved the proposal of ETCS (European Train Control System) signalling between Ghaziabad and Mughalsarai.

This comes about a month after the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) asked the railways to evaluate its 100% signalling upgradation move. According to the railways, the PMO had not completely shot down the proposal and had asked to evaluate it.

The railways earlier had decided upon 100% ETCS over the next six years and give the contract in one go, giving the supplier the benefit of economies of scale. But after the PMO’s intervention, it will test the technology on one route and will decide further implementation after response.

“In the recent Railway Board meet, Ghaziabad-Mughalsarai section was identified for ETCS level 2 signalling. Since the Delhi-Mughalsarai route has high traffic density, modern signalling will help in enhancement of safety,” said a Railways official.

The capacity utilisation on this route is 150% and the punctuality is also the worst among the 17 zones of Indian Railway. Once the system is implemented, the number of accidents will reduce.

“Modern signalling will help reduce congestion in rail network and increase line capacity by 40%-50%. It will also improve punctuality as it can eliminate train delays due to automated signalling and real time information of train movements, eliminating the need for manual data logging,” the officer added. It will also help to increase average speed of trains due to automation of train operations.