NIT-K students develop warning system at unmanned crossings

The students of NIT-K Surathkal here have developed a system that will provide an audio-visual warning about approaching trains well in advance at unmanned railway level crossings and prevent accidents.
The students, who had been working with their faculty sincelast year for Indian Railways, have designed a device that candetect the presence of a train when it is at a fair distance (approximately 5 km) from the location of the level crossing, an NIT-K release said today.
It would provide an audio-visual warning so that people andvehicles can avoid using the level crossings. Saurabh Sachan, a student in the team, said of the28,607 railway level crossings across the country, about 9,340 was unmanned and 40 per cent of total trainaccidents occur at these crossings.

They have installed the device at a level crossing at Bondel near here in January for field testing to determine the ruggedness and durability of the sensor and indigenously designed circuit.
Despite some faults during the initial few days, the device was working fine and it had been successfully sending warnings about the passage of the train at the level crossing, the release said.