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Rakshak comes to aid of railways gangmen
There is good news coming the way of the two lakh gangmen, recently rechristened as track-maintainers working on the Indian Railways. The beleaguered gangmen work in inhospitable conditions patrolling the tracks and do duty at level- crossings. With no information on approaching trains,
- Trials conducted in three blocks on Secunderabad-Kazipet section successful
- The safety device a walkie-talkie ‘Rakshak’ is likely to be announced in the Rail Budget 2016-17. The Railway Board asks Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RSDO) to prepare specifications and standards for the implementation across the country
Hyderabad: There is good news coming the way of the two lakh gangmen, recently rechristened as track-maintainers working on the Indian Railways. The beleaguered gangmen work in inhospitable conditions patrolling the tracks and do duty at level- crossings. With no information on approaching trains, deaths are common and according to a rough estimate about 500 of them die in train accidents every year.
About 10 gangmen die in Secunderabad division alone every year. A project has been conceived with the idea of providing wireless safety warning system for the workforce. The gangmen now would soon be getting a safety device, a handheld walkie-talkie named Rakshak (train passing indicator). It would provide alerts by way of LED indication along with a buzzer and vibration of approaching trains which would help them move away from tracks.
Equipping gangmen with Rakshak is likely to be a major announcement in the Rail Budget 2016-17. The trials are being conducted in three blocks Ippaguda-Ghanpur, Naskal-Pindial and Ghanapur-Naskal on the Secunderabad-Kazipet section. Senior railway officials say that there is not a single incidence of Rakshak not alerting the gangmen of an approaching train.
The Railway Board has directed the Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RSDO) which stipulates the standards and specifications for the implementation of the system across the country to submit a report. The trails are presently being conducted in three blocks.
Blocks comprise two stations and in each block, 17 gangmen work and their beat extend to 6 km. There are 408 gangmen working between Secunderabad and Kazipet. In all there are 25,000 gangmen working in South Central Railway (SCR). In all 64 handsets, each costing Rs 10,000, was given to gangmen. Four transmitters were set up at a cost of Rs 3 lakh each.
The transmitter is placed in the station master room. The antenna is erected at a height of about 20 metres which is connected to the transmitter through RF cable. ACES Enterprises, Mumbai bagged the tender and has provided the equipment.
The digital signal receiver ‘Rakshak’ will receive alerts every 20 seconds of approaching trains between two stations where he works. A senior official says there is no way he could miss the alert as he would be getting a visual in the form of an LED, buzzer which is audible and a vibration of the handset.
