Kolkata Metro to launch centralised control system

Kolkata: Metro Railway Kolkata is introducing a Building Management System (BMS) across all stations on the Blue Line to enable centralised control of systems such as platform air-conditioning, tunnel ventilation, lifts, escalators and sump pumps.

Officials said the north–south corridor, the country’s first Metro and Asia’s fifth, was built with the technology available in the 1970s and has seen regular technical and automation upgrades since. The new system is part of that ongoing modernisation.

The arrangement will allow remote monitoring and control of all electrical assets and temperature conditions from the central facility at Metro Rail Bhavan. According to the plan, stations will be grouped in clusters of five, with the assets of each cluster monitored from one centre located at a designated station among the five. All cluster-level centres will be supervised and controlled from the Metro Rail Bhavan control room in real time.

Station temperatures will be regulated automatically at the desired level without human intervention. Any rise in tunnel or platform temperature will trigger an alert at the control room.

In case of a rise in tunnel temperature, sub-soil temperature, a fire incident or congestion of trains inside the tunnel, ventilation fans will switch on automatically.