Faults found in machines installed to detect movement of trains on tracks; 3000 units already in place in 7 zones

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Railways according to specifications approved by its design and standards unit RDSO, has been red flagged by officials as «faulty» after testing, saying the malfunctioning units could lead to a Balasore-like incident unless withdrawn. Officials said that around 4,000 units of the «faulty» MSDAC system have been procured by the Railways at a cost of Rs 5 lakh per unit and are being tested as part of a trial.

The MSDAC (Multi Section Axle Counter) is a system used in railway signalling to detect the clear or occupied status of a section of track between two points. The system generally consists of a wheel sensor (one for each end of the section) and an evaluation unit for counting the axles of the train both into and out of the section.

It basically tells a station master if the track is clear or occupied for train movement. The system has been red-flagged by engineers of RDSO a number of times in the last one year with at least four non-conformity reports submitted to the central office after inspection of the system.

So far, 3,000 such potentially faulty units have already been installed in the Eastern Railway, South East Central Railway, South Eastern Railway, Northern Railway, Central Railway, North Western Railway, and North Central Railway as part of the testing phase. Queries sent to RDSO DG about the MSDAC system supplied by a private agency, did not elicit any response.

According to a report sent by the Chief Signal Engineer of Eastern Railway to the Executive Director, RDSO, the MSDAC system installed at Naihati Station was found to be faulty. The report said that the machine which is supposed to detect train movement has failed to do so «frequently.» It further said that sometimes the sensor in the machine