Recent signal errors expose flaws in interlocking system

As much as averting danger, the loco pilots had exposed the major flaws in the signal interlocking system thrice in a week.

On November 22, a Mangalore bound express train from Chennai was given the green signal to proceed at Basin Bridge. Alarmingly, the home signal was in green, while the track was set for diversion on a different route, and that too at the maximum speed. However, for the alertness of the loco pilot, train no 12601 would have sped away on the wrong track.

The same day, Howrah bound express train no 22864 from Yashwantpur was given green home signal while a level crossing gate inside the station at Hebbal near Bengaluru was open with vehicles criss-crossing the tracks. On November 15, Chennai – Nellore train no 66031 was given green signal while the track was diverted towards the loop line.

In all the three cases, the signals were interlocked with the route setting points and signal operating knobs available at the station master and level crossing. “The signals should have been red. No signal should be green when a level crossing gate is opened or when the track routing is wrong. Had the pilots not sensed danger and acted in time, the trains would have strayed in to the wrong track. Even if the pilots had advanced a few paces in the wrong route, they would have been held accountable as it is difficult to prove such signal-track interlock failures,” said V Balanchandran, zonal president, All India Loco Running Staff Association (ALRSA).

Loco pilots requesting anonymity have described three near incidents as miracle and said that it would be improbable to stop trains like their colleagues did always, as they would be travelling and the signal clearances were for maximum speed, sometimes it would be too late before pilot’s act.

ALRSA has urged the railway management to address the flaws in the system and understand the possibility of signals and track diversions not being in sync before initiating actions. More than departmental action, lives of passengers would be at peril if the gaping holes in the signal interlocking were addressed immediately, Balachandran told DT Next.