Northern railway prepares action plan to combat foggy weather

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NEW DELHI: The Northern Railways has devised an action plan to combat foggy season and decided to provide 2,648 fog safety devices in trains to ensure safety and punctuality, officials said on Thursday.

Fog safety device is a GPS based equipment which provides advance warning to loco pilots about approaching signal. These have been provided to them for use during train operations. 

These devices have also been provided to East Central Railway (877), North Central Railway (537), North Eastern Railway (975), Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and North Western Railway (802) which are affected by fog. 

General Manager of the zone T P Singh said, "All the Mail/Express and passenger trains will be equipped with fog safety device during fog situation. Further, 600 more such devices are expected to be commissioned by end of November this year and 5,400 more have already been ordered and will be received in the next three months. These will not only provide safety but also help in maintaining punctuality." 

During the fog season, railways will also deploy fogmen for placing detonators (a device which generates sound when wheel passes over it) on tracks to alert the loco pilots about approaching signal. 

Automatic signalling system will be converted to a modified semi-automatic signalling system during this time.

Sufficient walkie-talkie sets have been provided to crew and station staff. Signal indication booklets are provided to assist the loco pilots and their counselling is done for working during fog and issuing consolidated instructions for working.

Railways will also revise crew links to cater to a cancellation of some trains during foggy weather. Extra crew is made available to avoid excess duty hours during late running of train, Singh said.

The periodical mandatory training and refresher courses for loco pilots and guards shall be completed by December 15, 2018, he said.

"We had started an auto sms service in Delhi division last year, we are using it this year too whereby information regarding trains which begin from here will be provided. I am also appealing to passengers to stay in touch with our helpline number 139 and not to cross tracks or level crossings during fog season," he said.