Automated railway signaling system

Abstract

The railroad industry’s own desire to maintain their ability to provide safe and secure transport of their customers hazardous materials, has introduced new challenges in rail security. Addressing these challenges is important, as railroads, and the efficient delivery of their cargo, play a vital role in the economy of the country. The present project is designed to satisfy the security needs of the railways. This system provides the security in four ways: automatic gate opening/closing system at track crossing, signaling for the train driver, tracking the signals, and the track protection. The automatic gate opening/closing system is provided with the Reflection sensors placed at a distance of few kilometers on the both sides from the crossing road. These sensors give the train reaching and leaving status to the embedded controller at the gate to which they are connected. The controller operates (open/close) the gate as per the received signal from the Reflection sensors. The train driver always observes the signals placed beside the track. These signals are controlled from the control room. The green light denotes that the track is free and red light denotes the track is busy or damaged. These signals are controlled based on the train position which is sensed by using the Reflection sensors placed along the track. The position of the train can be estimated by using the Reflection sensor placed along the track and is displayed on the control room to indicate the train position along the track. The track protection is achieved by providing the closed loop along the track. If any crack or cut is occurred to the track simultaneously the same happens to the closed loop. This gives a signal to the controller at the control room. From control room we can give the red signal by knowing the position of the train through the Reflection sensors.