Golden quadrilateral to get automatic train protection soon: Railway Board Chairman

November 27, 2019: The 650 kilometres of railroad along the golden quadrilateral that connects the four metros of India- Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata will soon get the automatic train protection (ATP) system to improve safety, says the Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav.

The security system that doesn’t require the driver to see the signal will be then extended to 68,000 kilometres of the entire country, reads a report published by Financial Express.

Automatic Train Protection vs Automatic Train Operation
ATP is a signalling system that is used by railroads around the world to avoid collisions by automatically supervising the Maximum Permissible Speed (MPS) and is a part of the bigger Automatic Train Operation (ATO). ATP controls only deceleration of the train while ATO controls all phases of train operation - from acceleration to accurate braking.

Hyderabad Train Accident
The November 11 accident happened at the Kacheguda Station in Hyderabad was due to the MMTS driver who failed to locate the signal and died five days later. ATP and ATO are implemented in many countries across the globe, India is still dependent on the driver to identify the signal and operate his train according to it.

Though, different versions of ATPs are already used in suburban and metro railways in the country, a countrywide implementation of the system could significantly improve the safety of trains running throughout the country, thus reducing the accidents due to human error.