TRI – NETRA
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.
How it operates?
TRI-NETRA
system is 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 act as three eyes (Tri-Netra) of the
Locomotive Pilot.
TRI-NETRA is
designed to “see” the terrain ahead of the running locomotive during inclement
weather by combining the images captured by the three sub-systems and to create
a composite video image which shall be displayed in front of the Loco Pilot on
a computer monitor.
Significance:
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. Because of the heavy momentum of the running train, the
train driver has to always adjust the speed of the train such that he or she
can stop the train on visually seeing the obstruction. In fair weather and in
daytime, this is not a problem since train driver has a clear view of the track
ahead. But in poor visibility, he has to reduce the speed suitably so that the
brakes can be applied in time to stop the train without hitting the
obstructions.
Background:
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.
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