By  Apurva Bhatt

 

The idea of automatic door closing system mooted by  Central Railway general manager SK Sood to prevent commuters traveling on the foot board from falling off a running train or dashing with the poles will soon be adopted by Western Railway if the trails are successful.

Western Railway is likely to begin field trials of automatic door closing system in retrofitted coach that will run Churchgate-Virar section from tomorrow. After assessing the results of this trial, another set of trials will be carried out with passengers on board with a few weeks. A senior WR official said, "Initially, the railway employees will be asked to board and alight from this coach to guage the feed back." During the trails the efficacy of the forced ventilation system will be check by monitoring the carbon dioxide levels the doors will remain closed mid-section. Also, it will be ascertained if the doors open and close without any glitches. It will also have to be checked that train does not move if the door does not close. The control of the door closing system will be given in the hands of the guard or the motorman.

WR plans to keep the door open for 30 seconds to allow passengers to board and alight from the train. The static trials of the door closing system were carried out in August 2014. Unlike, the metro coaches, the doors of the suburban rakes are slightly curved, thus making the automatic door closing system a bit challenging. In the suburban rakes, the sides of the roof form into a curved before merging with the frame of the door. The static trail proved that the doors opened and close with 10 seconds without any hitch." Under the system, the braking system of the rake will be connected to the opening and closing of door. The automatic door closure will have sensor technology. As soon as the door closes, the current will pass through the cable to release the brakes. Unless this brakes are released, the train will not be able to move.

This will ensure that system is fool proof and the train will be unable to move till all passengers have boarded and door closed." If the trials are successful, railways may consider installing this system in all the rakes gradually . There are 80 rakes on WR and 120 on CR. The retrofitment work for each rake of 12-car formation is expected to cost Rs 4 crore.