Railway decides not to proliferate use of ACD: Minister

Railways has made it clear that further proliferation of anti-collision device (ACD) to other zones was not contemplated due to technical and operational problems, Lok Sabha was informed today.
Technical and operational problems have been experienced in the functioning of ACD in Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), Minister of State for Railway Manoj Sinha said in a written reply.
He said major problems was of unwarranted breakings which had adverse impact on running of train.
Development and deployment of ACD was taken up by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) as a pilot project on 1738 km route and 548 locomotives in Northeast Frontier Railway, and it was operationalised in 2006.

However, despite efforts in resolving the technical and operational glitches, unwarranted breakings still continue to exist, Sinha said.
In order to deploy the system on the main line sections having multiple lines or electrified routes, Konkan Railway developed ACD version 2 with revised specifications and design configuration.

Trials of ACD version 2 were conducted on Pattabiram and Arakkonam section in Chennai division in Southern zone during 2010-11.
Sinha said a large number of complex operational and technical problems were experienced during the trials in Southern Railway which could not be fully resolved by Konkan Railway due to design limitations of ACD.

He said to overcome major problems noticed in ACD, an alternative system termed as Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) was being developed indigenously by Research Design and Standards Organisation in association with three Indian vendors.