Question: Recently Ministry of Railways, Railway Board has initiated a proposal to install which of the following system on locomotives for enhancing the vision of Locomotive Pilots in inclement weather?
(a) TRI-NETRA system
(b) INFRARED system
(c) Optical and Radar-supported system
(d) None of the above
Ans: (a)
Related facts:
- On 17 July 2016 Ministry of Railways, Railway Board has initiated a proposal to install TRI-NETRA systems on locomotives for enhancing the vision of Locomotive Pilots in inclement weather.
- TRI-NETRA stands for – Terrain imaging for diesel dRivers Infra-red, Enhanced Optical &Radar Assisted system.
- TRI-NETRA system shall be made up of high-resolution optical video camera, high sensitivity infra-red video camera and additionally a radar-based terrain mapping system.
- These three components of the system shall act as three eyes (Tri-Netra) of the Locomotive Pilot.
- During fog, heavy rain and also during night, the locomotive pilots face serious challenges in looking out ahead to spot any obstruction on the track such as vehicles which get stuck while crossing the track or trees or boulders which have fallen across the track etc.
- The concept of TRI-NETRA was developed by Development Cell under the guidance of Member Mechanical, Railway Board while brainstorming on how to use the technology employed by fighter aircrafts to see through clouds and operate in pitch darkness and the technology used by naval ships in mapping the ocean floor and navigating in the night.
- There has been very enthusiastic response to this Expression of Interest (EoI) published by Railway Board and number of companies from Israel, Finland, USA and Austria have expressed interest in developing such a system.
Reference:
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=147159
http://www.financialexpress.com/economy/suresh-prabhu-led-indian-railways-banks-tri-netra-avoid-train-accidents/315011/
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/soon-tri-netra-will-help-railways-in-navigating-bad-weather-1433009