E-chip for Mumbai trains

The Central Railway has installed on a trial basis a new electronic chip in two of its retrofitted trains. The chip is fixed in the motor cabs of the trains – the cabs that contain the electrical equipment in an Electric Multiple Unit (EMU). The signals sent by the chip will help railway engineers, sitting in the control room, to identify the location as well as the extent of the problems in the train. Minor problems will be sorted out by the engineers by directing the motormen and other crew to the location and adopting simple measures. Major problems would require the attention of railway engineers onsite, but their task would be simplified because the location of the problem would have been identified beforehand. The chip would also be useful in fixing problems with trains’ software and microprocessors. It is expected to put an end to trains coming to abrupt halt due to minor problems in the EMUs, and trains waiting for engineers to arrive to be restarted, thus upsetting the timetable of the overburdened Mumbai suburban railways. The tests on the chip have been on since April this year.