With 4G nod for railways, global rail major Wabtec eyes tie up for train safety in India

Global rail equipment companies are eyeing business opportunities in India, which recently decided to give 4G spectrum for communication on Indian Railways to help the network adopt safety systems to prevent accidents.

Wabtec, one of global majors in the sector, is keen to tie up with Indian companies in implementing Automatic Train Protection Systems (ATP).

The Indian Railways is implementing the Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) on its tracks. This indigenous ATP system, developed by the Indian Railways in association with local manufacturers, has already been installed on Lingampalli-Vikarabad-Wadi and Vikarabad-Bidar section (250 Route km) of South Central Railway.  Another 1,199 Route km on South Central Railway is also on track.

Wabtec says its ‘positive train control’ (PTC) launched in 2008, is a proven technology in the United States and is operational on more than 120,000 km of network. "We are looking at whether we can work with some of the Indian companies who are designing the TCAS solution right now. This will help them leapfrog the technology by at least 10 years, which will speed up India's efforts to implement its new signalling system at a faster pace," said Nalin Jain, the Group President of Wabtec’s Digital Electronics Business. At present, there are three companies in India that are working on TCAS -- Medha, HBL and Kernex.

PTC gives directions to the driver on when to slow down. There is another ATP technology called European Train Control System (ETCS), which was also implemented in India on selected tracks on a pilot basis, before it shifted to TCAS.

These systems prevent accidents due to collision, jumping of signals (SPAD, or signal passing at danger, in railway parlance) and  over-speeding. It continuously checks the speed of a train and activates emergency brakes if it exceeds the speed limit.

"Conceptually, all these technologies are the same. The ETCS communicates through a wayside equipment, whereas a PTC works through a satellite and Wi Fi connectivity. In TCAS, they use RFID. But they are using different modes of how information is being processed and transmitted into the locomotive from the back office control centre," Jain said.

At present, around 96 per cent of the total traffic in India runs on 34,000 km long railways lines and at least in this area the new signalling system is planned to be installed in the next five years. This is likely to see investment to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore.

Wabtec says local players can enhance their product with a tie up with an established technology like PTC.

"They are at the beginning of the curve compared to a technology which today is running at 120,000 kms. TCAS if it goes on its journey right now, will take 10 to 15 years before India could say we got TCAS installed in 60,000 km of track. Then they will evolve and keep learning. We have gone through that journey in the last 15-20 years. In terms of cost too, PTC and TCAS cost are pretty comparable. I think ETCS is probably three to four times more than that," Jain added.

Last week, the Union Cabinet had decided to provide 4G spectrum to the Indian Railways and approved the allotment of 5 MHz in the 700 MHz band to the national transporter, a move that will improve safety and increase the speed of trains. The implementation of TCAS was getting delayed because of the absence of this higher spectrum.