New universal fail safe block instrument system established at Petrapole Station

Kolkata: The last token block instrument from the British era in Eastern Railway (ER) was replaced with a new universal fail safe block instrument system at Petrapole Station under Sealdah Division, which is one of the freight trains interchanging points between India and Bangladesh.

The old token block instrument will be kept in the Rail Museum as heritage of the Railways. The new block instrutment, according to East Central Railway, is capable of providing the last vehicle detection in both single and double line sections. Under the leadership of Deepak Nigam, DRM of Sealdah, Electronic Interlocking System was commissioned at Petrapole Station and a new signalling system was introduced replacing the token block instrument from the British era with new universal fail safe block instrument system. Petrapole is the last station of Indian Railways near the Bangladesh border in Sealdah Division and connects to Benapole, first station of Bangladesh for transportation of Goods trains and prestigious International Passenger train Bandhan Express in between two countries.

Bangaon-Petrapole is a part of an old route constructed in 1884 from Dumdum to Khulna (now in Bangladesh) via Bangaon. Earlier, there was no signalling system in Petrapole and used to receive trains from Bangaon by using the token block instrument.

For commissioning of a new signalling system Between Bangaon-Petraople, more than 50 personnel were deployed. Without hampering any train movement at Bangaon and in this section, non-interlocking work was completed within eight hours by the Signal and Telecommunication Railway team led by Md. Nasir, Sr DSTE of Sealdah. It was executed by a contractual agency, Jasumall & Co. Kolkata. The new signalling system ensures safety of the passengers in this section and increases the scope of movement of more trains. The new signalling system with fast system response time will increase operational efficiency. Multi Section Digital Axle Counter (MSDAC) based track detection will eliminate dependence on parameters of ballast, glued joint, liners etc and will not fail during the rainy season.

Datalogger with centralised monitoring and fault diagnosis, will ensure that preventive action can be taken and failure rectification time can be reduced. Integrated power supply system will provide uninterrupted power supply to the signalling system for smooth operation of trains. Interlocking of two level crossing gates was done and electrically operated LC Gates have been provided in between Petrapole – Bangladesh Border which will improve safety of both train and road traffic in

this section.