Mumbai: A 23-year-old engineering student from Chandigarh has helped the Western Railway (WR) set up an alarm system to detect the storage level in water tanks in trains.
According to a Western Railway official, nearly 30% of the total complaints received from railway passengers in 2016-17 were about water shortage on trains. While looking for a solution, the railway authorities found the student, Sumit Grover, on the classifieds website OLX. “He had posted about some other prototype, but we thought that he could be helpful in devolping a system to tackle the water issue,” said a senior railway official from the engineering department.
WR got in touch with Mr. Grover, and in around three months, he created the iWAS, or intelligent water alarm system. The system is a solar-powered sensor, which sends an SMS to six designated mobile numbers in case of low water levels — below 25% — in the water tanks.
“One such unit will be installed in each rake, and it will send details of the coach where the water level has gone down. After we receive the SMS, we will immediately inform the staff concerned at the next station, who can fill water in the tank immediately,” the WR official said.
He said that to keep the device independent of the power supply in the coach, it is powered using an independent solar power module that uses an 8” x 8” solar panel. The solar panel is mounted on the roof of the coach, and is hard-wired to the power supply of the device. The device uses three water sensors, mounted in the overhead water tank of the coach at different locations. The three sensors prevent errors in recording water level, owing to splashing of water while filling the tank. The device has an integrated GSM module to send the alarm message.
Trial project
The first iWAS was installed in one coach in the Tapti Ganga Express, which runs between Surat and Patna. Western Railway had received the highest number of water-related complaints from this train. “In just about 20 days since its instalment, there have been four instances in which alarms have prevented water from running out,” said the official.
After the positive feedback, the WR ordered the system for the whole rake.
“We have worked together with Mr. Grover to develop the first prototype and are now expanding it to the full rake. Work to fit the system in the entire rake will begin on Monday in Surat,” said Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager, WR.
The system will later be installed in other trains too.
Mr. Grover told The Hindu that since he is an electronic engineering student, he likes making such articles and posting them on OLX. “After WR contacted me, I made a system that can be helpful for the railways and passengers. The first device took nearly four months, and then I made 38 units for the whole rake,” he said.