Freight trains equipped with contentious German brakes to slow down at certain tracks

20 Feb 2023 , 09:31 AM

A day after a preliminary study indicated that the malfunctioning brakes were likely to blame for the Sultanpur collision, the Railways on Sunday ordered its zones to urge loco pilots to follow the authorised speed limit in trains equipped with a contentious German-made braking system. Also, it has given the zones instructions to keep an eye on how the loco drivers brake.

Railway zones received instructions last year to limit the top speed of loaded trains with more than 50% of their waggons equipped with the system to 50 kmph on downgrades of 1 in 100, 65 kmph on level tracks of IR, and 80 kmph on DFC. This restriction resulted from numerous complaints and accidents involving goods trains equipped with the German-made Bogie Mounted Brake System (BMBS).

Two freight trains crashed on Thursday not far from Sultanpur’s southern cabin.

An early assessment stated that one of the trains involved in the accident was loaded and travelling at 65 kmph on a route with a downward gradient while the brakes were inoperable.

‘Each accident demonstrates laxness in one or more related areas. Due to this, a month-long rigorous safety drive will begin as of February 19, 2023 ‘The Railway Board’s ruling stated.

To prevent SPAD cases, specific attention must be paid to a number of factors. These include ‘ambush checks’ of running staff by inspectors to ensure that loco pilots and assistant loco pilots are adhering to protocol, the use of mobile phones while in motion, and close crew supervision of train control on yellow signals and train control in gradients to stop before a red signal.

For higher average freight train speeds and safer operations on lengthy, steep grades, all waggons equipped with BMBS are required to operate in ‘twin-pipe mode.’

In July 2022, the Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) red-flagged the BMBS. The system’s braking capacity has ‘deficiencies,’ according to a committee report, it claimed.

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