Indian Railways plans to run trains without guards, to acquire EoTT system

Sophisticated equipment will be acquired by the Indian Railways to run 1000 trains without guards. The Railways will float global tenders worth over Rs 100 crore.

The End of Train Telemetry (EoTT) equipment is used to establish communication between the locomotive driver and the last wagon of the train to ensure that the train is running with all coaches/wagons as a complete unit.

The equipment is designed to do the guard’s job by giving indication to the loco driver in case of parting of coaches or wagons from the rear side of the train. Each set of EoTT device is estimated to cost approximately Rs 10 lakh.

EoTT system comprises two units, one unit called cab display unit (CDU) fitted on the locomotive and the other is sense and brake unit (SBU) fitted on the last coach or wagon of the train. Both the units are fitted with radio transmitter which communicate with each other.

In case of a train parting, the system is designed to indicate to the driver the parting of the train and to apply brakes to the rear unit, thus averting collision of the rear portion with the front portion of the train.

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Railways will acquire 1000 EoTT equipment to begin with for its container operations and later more such unit will be procured for all trains. All goods trains on the proposed dedicated freight corridors will run with EoTT system.

“We will invite financial bids for acquiring 1000 EoTT equipment in the first phase,” said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project.

The official said the EoTT equipment is used to establish communication between locomotive driver and the last vehicle of the train to see that the train is running with all coaches/wagons as a complete train.

There is a transmitter fitted on a locomotive and a receiver that is fitted on the end of the last vehicle. The transmitter and the last vehicle receive exchange signals at regular intervals to ensure that the train is running intact.

If there is a break in the communication between the two units, the driver gets a signal that the train has parted, the official said. The transmitter unit, fitted at the end of the train’s last wagon is connected to the brakes and it exhausts the brake pipe air and applies brakes to the broken away portion of wagons so that they do not collide.

Railways had earlier undertaken the trial run of the EoTT system successfully. The EoTT system in 1000 trains is expected to be operational in the current fiscal.

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