Indian Railway has asked the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) to develop systems which can prevent fire in train coaches and also stop coaches from climbing over each other during accidents.The railway at present is not equipped with such a technology which can effectively prevent on-board fire.
RDSO which is responsible to enforce standardisation and co-ordination among various railway system is looking to collaborate with reputed institutions to make train travel a better and safer experience.
Work has already been started in this direction. On February 20th, RDSO held a meeting with experts from IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay, IIT-Madras, IIT-Kharagpur, the department of science and technology, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Indian Space Research Organisation to apprise them of the pending RDSO projects and seek their expertise.
RDSO will also be identifying specific projects like fire control measures; gate warning signals, reducing sound of powercars, and seek cooperation from technical and environmental institutes.
In the next six months, RDSO is also planning to present before the railway ministry design of vacuum toilets which will be implement soon.
Through this year’s Railway budget the railway ministry has shown its intentions to focus more on research and development.
Two projects of RDSO, Train Collision Avoidance System and Train Protection Warning System, will be executed on select routes at the earliest.
RDSO has already commissioned the trial for both the projects along with the trial for high speed (160kmph) trains.
“We are working with Isro on warning systems at unmanned level crossings. Emphasis on RDSO will promote research and in the longer run, it will enhance passenger safety.” said RDSO executive director (administration), AK Mathur.
