NEW DELHI: The railways has installed Asia's largest solid state interlocking (SSI) system in Kharagpur, which will enable station masters to set 800 different routes for trains in a matter of minutes.
Interlocking is a railway signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements of trains through an arrangement of tracks such as junctions or crossings.
Installed at a cost of Rs 39 crore, the cutting-edge technology, which replaces the pre-1989 route relay system that only allowed operators to set maximum 423 routes, ensures that no cross-movement takes place, according to a railway ministry statement today.
Also, the SSI software will detect the routes a particular train can take and inform the station masters working at the panel, bringing down the operation time and the possibility of human error.
It will reduce the possibility of accidents.
"The software is microprocessor-based and suggests possible routes to the station master. All that he has to do is to assign platforms depending on the importance of the train, number of coaches and other parameters," a senior railway official said.
The system was made operational yesterday.