Pneumatic Railway Gate Control System Using IR Sensor

The railways are the most commonly used transportation mode in India. It is
also one of those modes of transport where a minor human error can cause
multiple fatalities as in level cross accidents, collisions, etc. A level cross, an
intersection of a road and a railway line, requires human coordination, the lack
of which leads to accidents. Level crosses are mostly controlled by manually
operated gates. In order to avoid the human errors that could occur during the
operation of gates, the proposed paper introduces the concept of railway gate
automation. Present technology in India Level crossings are managed by the
gatekeeper and the gatekeeper is instructed by means of the telephone at most of
the level crossings, from the control room. But the rate of manual error that
could occur at these level crosses are high because they are unsafe to perform
without actual knowledge about the train timetable , obstacle stuck in the level
cross etc. leads to the increasing rate of accidents at the level cross. Thus the
railway gate automation system aims to deal with two things. It reduces the total
time taken for the gate operation at the level cross and also ensures the safety of
the passengers at the level cross during when the train passes. The reduction in
the direct human intervention during the gate operation, in turn, helps to reduce
the collision and accidents at the level cross. Since the gate operations are based
on the sensors, the gates are closed and opened when the train is at an optimum
distance away. The paper thus intends to develop an automatic railway gate
control system which is more reliable and secured than the existing manual
systems.It proposes a unique and economical method for improving the safety
of the level crossings.