Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

7 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. GPS by fldvm · · Score: 5, Informative

    The reason that GPS is not used in the US for trains more is because many times tracks run right next to each other and sometimes trains run on the right and other times on the left. GPS is not accurate enough to tell what track the train is on.

    1. Re:GPS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well, the system is different in India, we have a two track system, an up-line and a down-line, and trains never travel parallel to each other in the same direction on the same stretch of track at the same time. So GPS makes sense. What i dont understand is how the Indian railways is going to use this stuff, India is notious for the "let-it-go" attitude to serious issues, ministers and staff are callous, and Indian railway staions are a sight to behold, it's almost a mini-fair, sadhus, fakirs, beggars, thieves, cheats touts, vendors hawking everthing from desi-viagra to eucalyptus oil, ticketless travellers riding on the roof, dirt, faeces on the tracks, cows, crows, huge bandicoot rats etc,

      If you ever get caught in a train problem someplace in India, do not expect the railways to help you or give you a refund, get going from wherever you can, that ways you atleast save some time. Carry a basic first aid kit, avoid eatables offered by co-passengers (might be drugged), and drink bottled water, travel by AC if you can...

  2. Sooo.... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What happens when the USA turns off or munges GPS information again? Is Europe still considering if they should make a secondary GPS system?

    --
    1. Re:Sooo.... by absolut_kurant · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes Europe is :) The system is called Galileo and you can find more information at the link. Slashdot also had a story.

      The first satellites are supposed to be launched in 2004.

      --
      Yes.
  3. I just LOVE this reporting: by TexVex · · Score: 5, Funny
    When there is an accident, that often translates into large numbers of casualties.
    And in other news, failure to regularly exchange carbon dioxide with oxygen frequently results in death to animals and people!
    --
    Fun with Anagarams! LADS HOST, SHALT DOS. HAS DOLTS. AD SLOTHS, HATS SOLD. ASS HO, LTD.
  4. War Railing? by metrazol · · Score: 5, Funny

    So the trains have a GPS doohicky in 'em, alright. And ya say that there doohicky can stop the train if the driver doesn't? Okeydokey.

    And so you're sayin' I could sit next to the tracks and stop trains with the WiFi card in my Zaurus? Neat-o.

    Saves having to follow the schedule!

    --
    "Life's funny sometimes." "And sometimes it isn't." --Cat's Cradle
  5. 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

    --
    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely