Railways awards bids for collision avoidance system

The system is designed to apply brakes in trains if it detects problems on the tracks or if the train is on a collision course. The Research,Design and Standard Organisation RDSO selected Medha Servo and Kernex Microsystems from a list of six contenders.

The pilot project will cost around Rs 18 crore in trials that will take place till early 2014, said a senior railway official. It it clears the trials,the system will be rolled out for the entire country. Installation of the system was part of the Rail Budget.

The TCAS is based on a combination of railway signalling data with radio communications,GPS and radio frequency identification devices. It is a hybrid of the TPWS and Railways own anti-collision device. At around Rs 10 lakh per km,Train Collision Avoidance System is almost one-eighth of the cost of Train Protection Warning System.