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Using GPS To Prevent Train Crashes In India

Posted by timothy on from the appropriate-technology dept.

dave420 writes "The BBC has an article outlining plans in India to use GPS technology to alert train drivers of obstructions on the tracks, automatically stopping the train if the driver fails to take action. This sounds like a good use of cheaply-available technology to provide a safer train network."

5 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. Re:the reason for most train crashes by RevSmiley · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The same reason the UK seems to be having many crashes and derailments. Who could have thought of such a thing.

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  2. Point car by steveha · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have an idea for improving train safety.

    The biggest problem for train safety is that a train is hard to stop. It has so much mass that you can't just suddenly decide to stop it. In a perfect world, you would have some warning before you needed to stop it.

    So make a much smaller vehicle that can stop quickly, and have that run out ahead of the train! Call it the "point car". Sensors on the point car would watch for an obstruction on the tracks (such as a stalled truck) and would halt the point car quickly; the train would stop more slowly, but it would have enough warning that it could stop before it reached the point car, let alone the obstruction. Also, you could mount a video camera on the front of the point car, and the engineer driving the train could watch a live video feed. A wireless radio link is probably the best way for the point car and the train to communicate.

    I'm sure the biggest problem with my idea is that it would cost too much. The point car would need fuel of some sort, and would itself be an expensive piece of equipment, and you would need one for each train. It would be cool if the point car could be driven by electric motors that somehow parasite power off the train, but I don't think any sort of power extension cord would be very practical.

    And of course, if India is only now spending the money to put cushions in for engineers to sit on, they won't be the first ones to try point cars.

    I don't know much about train crashes -- what fraction of train crashes are preventable with just GPS, and what fraction are not? If the most common problem is a train hitting another train, then GPS on both trains would help a lot. But GPS won't do much good if a truck stalls across the tracks.

    steveha

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    1. Re:Point car by technix4beos · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How about using unmanned fuel cell airplanes? It could follow the tracks, ahead of the train, reporting back what it sees, AND be able to stop in time.

      I'm positive it could be engineered to follow the tracks, hovering a few feet above the ground. When it spots something obstructing the tracks, it could report it automatically to central control, and the train, which would then have time to slow down.

      Read the previous slashdot entry:
      http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid =03/06/2 4/1954211&mode=nested&tid=126

      According to the links, it's capable of sustained flight for six months. Surely given that India has over 90% of it's rail lines outside, and it gets quite a lot of sun exposure, this would be a good choice of "point vehicle".

      Just a thought.

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  3. Is Hi-Tech the Only Way For India to Survive? by reporter · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Last month, Slashdot initiated a discussion topic about introducing a low-bandwidth Internet connection into impoverished villages in India. Now, this month, Slashdot initiates a discussion topic about using a global positioning system (GPS) to prevent Indian trains from crashing. Things appear as though Indian society cannot function properly without high technology.

    Please read "Trains in Japan". Trains in Japan have been extremely reliable and clean since the 1950s -- almost half a century. In 1960, there was no GPS, no Internet, etc. Yet, the train system in Japan worked fine.

    What in Indian culture prevents Indian society from developing into a modern society? Why does Indian society need all this high-tech intervention in order to make it just barely livable, yet Japan has been an adequately livable society since the late 1960s?

  4. Train Crossings by Goldfinger7400 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Wait, so does this mean they'll actually be able to shut the gate at a train crossing when a train is actually approaching? I recall waiting close to an hour (it's worse sometimes) for the train to actually pass, due to the fact that the gates are arbitrarily scheduled, and the train drivers have no sense of time.

    Amidst the bombard of vendors during the wait, at least I know now where to obtain a false passport.