Rail safety system averts local train crash into buffers at Churchgate

A local train exceeding speed limit was stopped by the automatic application of emergency brakes at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) on Wednesday. An Auxiliary Warning System (AWS)  installed at the station triggered the emergency brakes on the Kasara-CST fast local, averting an incident similar to that in June when a local train crashed into the buffers at the  Churchgate station.

The train stopped at the middle of the platform and the passengers and motorman Babu Nanu were safe. “The permissible speed at CST is 10 kmph. Motormen cannot exceed this speed at the station. However, motorman Nanu drove the 10.35 Kasara fast local, which was late by 5 minutes, probably at 15 kmph at CST,” said a Central Railway official. “We installed the AWS after a local train overshot at the Churchgate station. If the speed is more than 10 kmph,

AWS gets activated automatically and emergency brakes are applied. Before the AWS activates the brakes, it alerts the driver through a sound. In this situation, the driver probably could not understand the sound and emergency brakes were automatically applied,” said the official. “I was in the train immediately after the motorman’s coach. I could not understand what went wrong. Suddenly, the train halted in the middle of CST and I alighted. The driver mentioned that nothing was serious,” said a commuter Bharati Dubey. Confirming the incident, Public Relations Officer, CR, AK Singh said, “Our AWS was working.” –

See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/rail-safety-system-averts-churchgate-repeat-at-cst/#sthash.fkWHI4Io.SL5WFo46.dpuf

 

Heritage photo exhibition at Churchgate station

On November 29, 1864, the first Bombay Baroda and Central India (BB&CI) train, headed to Utran in Gujarat, chugged out of Grand Road station. According to a Times of India article marking the occasion, a bottle of wine was broken on the engine and the crowd gave a “feeble cheer”, which was instantly drowned out by the “whistle and pant of the iron-horse as he snorted for his race”. In 1951, the BB&CI merged with other lines like the Saurashtra and Rajputana Railways to form the Western Railway.

An exhibition at Churchgate station, commemorating the WR’s 150th year, showcased grainy black-and white images of trains chugging between Churchgate and Colaba station (the line closed down in 1930), Jawaharlal Nehru alighting from a WR train and BB&CI officials in suits and sola topis conducting a railway inspection from an open wagon. There were also miniature models of steam engines and drawings of double-decker coaches and narrow gauge trains hauled by bullocks dating back to 1862.

TOI