Video Editor: Vivek Gupta
Translations: Hera Khan
Outside the Varanasi Railway station you can see hoardings of ‘Lion on the move’ or ‘Make in India’ that portrays a modern and developing India. People who step down at the station never forget to take a selfie with the Digital India Lion but the reality behind the grandiose lion and the ‘Make in India’ board is very different from what appears to be the symbol of vikas.
In the image above, a railway personnel is trying to light a lamp so that he can signal the approaching train. The modern day ‘Digital India’ looks nothing more than a dream because railway stations like Manduadih are still operating on systems that belong to British India.
Manduadih Still Operating on ‘Standard One’ System
Most of the railway stations across the country operate on the RRI (Route Relay Interlocking) system. The interlocking system handles a large number of trains and their movements. But in Varanasi, PM Modi’s parliamentary constituency, the Manduadih railway station is still running on the 'Standard One’ operating system that dates back to British India.
Several other railway stations in the country also operate on the ‘Standard One’ system but they belong to the metre-gauge railway lines. The RRI systems have been implemented in most of the broad-gauge railway stations except a few like Manduadih.
How Does the Signal System Work?
In Manduadih Railway station, under the ‘Standard One’ system, the train movements are controlled manually. Whether the train has to halt at the platform when it reaches the station or it has to cross over to some other track, everything is done manually. Changing the railway track requires a pointman to take care of the job.
The pointman is responsible for changing the railway tracks. There is a special key for every track. The track is opened, changed and locked again so that it does not move from its place when the train arrives.
The pointman then rushes back to the station master’s room after which the order to close all the railway crossings between Manduadih and the next station is issued. Once this has been done, an iron ball-like token is issued from an age-old machine, and is called ‘authority to proceed’.
After receiving the ‘authority to proceed’ the train is signalled at. The train chugs ahead and hands over the token picked from the previous station to the next station, and the process continues.
How Are the Trains Manually Signalled?
After the ‘authority to proceed’ token has been received, the procedure to signal the train begins. The arm signal lever is pulled down which indicates that the lines are clear for the train to arrive at the station. The job is done cautiously. The moment the train enters the station the arm lever has to be immediately pulled up to avoid any mis-communication to the train running behind.
The arm lever signal is operated from the lever room above the station. A railway personnel monitors the trains from a small window. Depending on this, he decides whether or not to pull the lever down. He calls up the pointman if he can’t see the train.
At Night, Trains Run at the Mercy of the Lamps
In the morning everything can be seen from a distance but at night the arm lever is not visible. Hence, red and green lights are used to signal the trains at night. At night, the worker on duty, lights the lamp on the 14-feet-high signal tower along the railway track, to signal the trains.
If the lamp extinguishes the train stops until it has been lit again. The train driver takes the decision to move on the basis of the light.
Why Is the Age-Old System Still Operational in Manduadih?
The decision to upgrade Manduadih to a modernised railway station was taken during the UPA regime. The RRI system had been bought, the buildings had been constructed and the control room was also ready. But while the process was on, a change of governance took place and Narendra Modi was elected the Prime Minister of India – and Manduadih became his parliamentary constituency.
It was no longer an ordinary place, so the development here was not going to be ordinary either. Four years have passed ever since Manduadih was supposed to look grand and splendid.
The station is now being linked to five platforms and has a functional elevator. But a lot more needs to be done, most importantly an RRI system still needs to be installed at the railway station.
According to authorities, the RRI systems will be installed when the platforms are ready. PM Modi will reportedly inaugurate the Manduadih railway station soon. Perhaps, only then the station will get rid of its age-old operating systems.
(This was first published on QuintHindi.)
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