International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT), ISSN: 23488190

ICRTIET-2014 Conference Proceeding, 30th -31st August 2014

An Intelligent Design to Detect Broken Track for Indian Railway

Chanchal Kumar Vishwakarma1, Dr. S. Chatterji2, Dr. (Mrs.) Lini Mathew3
1

P.G. Scholar Dept. of Electrical Engineering, NITTTR Chandigarh, India.

Professor & Head, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, NITTTR Chandigarh India.
3
Associate Professor Dept. of Electrical Engineering, NITTTR Chandigarh India.
2

Abstract: A new kind of approaches is exhibited to

ensure the railway safety and thereby assuring a secured
travel. This project mainly performs the detection of
faults that occurs due to cracks on tracks. In India, most
of the commercial transport is being carried out by the
railway network and therefore, any problems in the same
has the capacity to induce major damage to the
economy-notwithstanding the societal impact of loss of
life or limb. This paper proposes a cost detection
utilizing LED-LDR and Hall Effect sensor assembly
which tracks the exact location of faulty track which
then mended immediately so that many lives will be
saved.
Keywords: Railway Track, Zigbee, Microcontroller, Hall
Effect sensor, LED- LDR sensor.
1. INTRODUCTION
Indian Railways are the largest rail-passenger
transport in today's world and it is the backbone of the
country's transport infrastructure. In India, most of the
commercial transport is being carried out by the railway
network because it is being cheapest mode of
transportation preferred over all other means of
transportation. The rapidly developing economy of India
has resulted in an exponentially increasing demand for
transportation in recent years, and this has resulted into
an enormous rise in the volume of traffic in the Indian
Railway network.

The Indian railway is an enterprise which is owned and

handled by the Government of India. It's the one of the
world largest railway network comprising 115,000km of
track over a route of 65,000km and 7,500 stations.
Today, India possesses the fourth largest railway
network in the world exceeded only by those of the
United States, Russia and China. The railways traverse
the length and breadth of the country and carry over 30
million passengers and 2.8 million tons of freight daily.
In spite of, boasting of such admirable information, the
Indian rail network is still on the developed trajectory
attempting to fuel the economic needs of our Indian
nation. However, in terms of reliability and protective
parameters, we have not yet reached truly global
standards[1]. The principal problem has been the lack of
proper maintenance of rails which have resulted in the
formation of cracks in the rail track and other similar
problems caused by antisocial elements which
jeopardize the security of operation of rail transport.
Analysis of the factors which causes these rail accidents,
recent statistics show that approximately 60% of all the
rail accidents have their cause as derailments, out of
which about 90% is due to cracks or breaks in rails
either due to natural causes (like excessive expansion
due to heat) or due to anti-social elements.
2. MAJOR TRAIN ACCIDENTS IN INDIA
The term accident envelopes a wide spectrum of
occurrences with or without significant impact on the
system. Consequential train accidents include mishaps
with serious repercussion in terms of loss of human life
or injury, damage to railway property or interruption to
rail traffic in excess of laid down threshold levels and
values. These consequential train accidents include
collisions, derailments, fire in trains, road vehicles
colliding with trains at level crossings, and certain
specified types of miscellaneous train mishaps.

Divya Jyoti College of Engineering & Technology, Modinagar, Ghaziabad (U.P.), India

132

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT), ISSN: 23488190
ICRTIET-2014 Conference Proceeding, 30th -31st August 2014

Major train accidents in India Shown in table 2.1

Year
19601969
19701979
19801989
19902000
20002013

Level
Collisio Derail
crossing
ns
ments
accidents

Fire in
Total
Trains

780

9913

1283

990

12966

516

6071

1005

164

7765

406

5417

587

147

6557

299

3137

596

68

4110

83

967

649

59

1758

3. BROKEN
TRACK
DETECTION
TECHNIQUES
In general, there exist two main categories of
techniques currently used for damage identification and
condition monitoring of Railway tracks. One is Visual
inspections: Visual inspection is the primary technique
used for defect identification in tracks, and is effectively
used in specialized disciplines. The successful
implementation of this method generally requires the
regions of the suspected damage to be known as a first
step, and be readily accessible for physical inspection.
As a result, this method can be costly[2], time
consuming and ineffective for large and complex
structural systems such as the rail track. Another is NDT
techniques have resulted in a number of tools for us to
choose from. Among the inspection methods used to
ensure rail integrity, the common ones are ultrasonic
inspection and eddy current inspection. Ultrasonic
Inspections are common place in the rail industry in
many foreign countries. It is a relatively well understood
technique and was thought to be the best solution to
crack detection. The Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detector
system is the first and only alternative broken rail
detection system developed, produced and implemented
on a large scale[4]. By using ultrasonic Broken Rail
Detector system railway operators will have the benefit
of monitoring rails continuously for broken rails without
human intervention
4. RELATED WORK
Somalraju et al in [1] have proposed the Robust
Railway Crack Detection Scheme (RRCDS) to prevent

the accidents. This paper proposed a cost effective yet

robust solution to the problem of railway crack detection
utilizing a method that is unique in the sense that while it
is simple, the idea is completely novel and hitherto
untested. The paper discusses the technical and design
aspects in detail and also provides the proposed robust
crack detection algorithm. The paper also presents the
details of the implementation results of the RRCDS
utilizing simple components inclusive of a GPS module,
GSM Modem and LED-LDR based crack detector
assembly. Cai et al in [2] have presented the Energy
Efficient MAC protocol for Condition Monitoring
Sensor Networks. A MAC protocol for wireless sensor
networks to monitor manufacturing equipment and
processes has been developed. Typically a single
machine defect may trigger multiple sensors to respond
and transmit a string of defect data to the central control
station, leading to high network collision rate, which in
turn consumes power on the side of the sensors. This
suggests that a Round Bobin type of scheduling
algorithms may not be suitable for sensor network
routing purpose. Jeevitha et al in [3] have proposed a
new kind of approaches is exhibited to ensure the
railway safety and thereby assuring a secured travel.
This project mainly performs the detection of faults that
occurs due to cracks on tracks, obstacle and explosives.
For better and safe travel, the cracks on rails are
periodically checked, for this left and right alignment
are said to be performed using IR sensors and added
Ultra Sonic crack detection can also be performed for
effective and better results. Metal (proximity) sensor and
obstacle sensor check is carried out in order to avoid the
running train either gets collided or hit by an obstacle[5].
Scope of the work: As the safety is one of the most
important aspects of the rail board operations. The
research and the system development for the safety
equipment have been conducted widely. There are many
scope of the broken track detection. They are follows.
(i) The Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detector system is the
first and only alternative broken rail detection
system developed, produced and implemented on a
large scale[8].
(ii) Another method for detection of cracks on tracks is
by using wireless sensor networks. In this method
the detection of Cracks can be identified using IR
rays with the IR transmitter and receiver[9].
(iii) The fiber-optic detection technology investigated
uses a standard single-mode fiber-optic fiber

Divya Jyoti College of Engineering & Technology, Modinagar, Ghaziabad (U.P.), India

133

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT), ISSN: 23488190
ICRTIET-2014 Conference Proceeding, 30th -31st August 2014

(iv)
(v)

(vi)
(vii)

(viii)

attached to the rail with epoxy or tape under the

head along the entire length of track segment[10].
The SIM 300 GSM module has been chosen to
achieve the SMS functionality[11].
An Arduino Uno board which has ATMMega328
microcontroller forms the brain of the scheme. This
board has been chosen for two important reasons
other than the fact that it is cost effective[12].
Radar technology is used for identifying both train
position and the speed necessary for train
control[13].
A LED-LDR sensor using microcontroller will be a
cost effective and efficient method to detect the
breakage on the Railway tracks. Also a Zigbee
module can be attached to the system to
communicate of breakage point location to the
nearest railway station[14].
Until now Indian railways was using analog system
which have many disadvantages. Siemens R&D is
developing the digital axle counter .This pilot
system not only provides tracking of train but also
helps in avoiding collisions and provides health
status of tracks. It can be used in any terrain and
weather which will save many human lives[15].

to overcome the problem defined and also to add other

useful features .The hardware used in the present work
provides a technique which allows preventing accidents.
The proposed system is divided in to four different
sections
as
shown
in
the
figure
5.1.

5. ALGORITHM AND INPLEMENTATION

As the safety is one of the most important aspects of the
rail board operations. The research and the system
development for the safety equipment have been have
been conducted widely.
The aim of the work is to minimize Railway accidents
in the Railway track. The main objectives are:
(i)
To identify derailment of tracks.
(ii) It may find the breakage on the tracks and send
immediate message to nearest lamp post and to
the train engine driver which is coming towards
to the tracks.
(iii) Cracks in rails have been identified to be the
main cause of derailments in the past, yet there
have been no cheap automated solutions
available for testing purposes.
(iv) The proposed system is divided in to four
different sections.
(a) System one placed at railway station
(b) System second Placed on Train Engine
(c) System third placed on railway track
(d) System fourth placed on lamp post
I propose to design a model by using embedded system

Divya Jyoti College of Engineering & Technology, Modinagar, Ghaziabad (U.P.), India

134

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT), ISSN: 23488190
ICRTIET-2014 Conference Proceeding, 30th -31st August 2014

Fig. 4.1 (a) System Placed at Railway Station (b) System

Placed on Train Engine (c) System Placed on Track (d)
System Placed on Lamp post
6. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
The following outcomes are expected by the author from
the proposed work.

It will provide an effective and efficient solution

to the defined problem in the Indian railways.
A highly reliable and smart design.
Proposed automatic broken track system will
automatically detects the faulty rail track
without any human intervention.
The system will consume very low power.

REFERENCES
[1] Selvamraju Somalraju, Vigneshwar Murali, Gourav
Saha, Dr. V. Vaidehi, Robust Railway Crack Detection
Scheme (RRCDS) Using LED-LDR Assembly
International Conference on Recent Trends in
Information Technology (ICRTIT), 2012, pp. 477-482.
[2] Boscardin,Cai, S., Gao, R.X.Gong, W., Energy
Efficient MAC Protocol for Condition Monitoring
Sensor Networks, 43rd IEEE Conference on Decision
and Control, Vol.2, pp.1496 1501. Dec 2004
[3] G Jeevitha, N Magadevi, T Bharathi, V Gowtham],
M Sivaramaganesh Intelligent Traction System
International Journal for Research in Applied Science
and Engineering Technology (IJRASET), Vol. 2 Issue II,
February 2014
[4] Massimo Leonardo Filograno, Pedro Corredera
Guillen, Alberto Rodriguez-Barrios, Sonia MartinLopez, Real-Time Monitoring of Railway Traffic Using
Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors, IEEE Sensors Journal,
Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 85-92, January 2012.
[5] Asim k. Pal, Debabrata Nath, Integrated Distributed
Intelligent System for Rail Automation: Safety Issues
Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering, Vol, 1, No.
2 December 2013
[6] Avinash. Vanimireddy, D. Aruna Kumari,
Automatic Broken Track Detection Using LED-LDR
Assembly International Journal of Engineering Trends
and Technology (IJETT) - Volume4, Issue7, pp 24422445, July 2013
[7] Komal B. Dandge, G.R. Gidveer, Arduino Based
Automatic Rail Crack Detection Scheme National

Conference on Advance in Computing, Networking and

Security (NCACNS), pp137-139, August 2013
[8] Allan M. Zarembski, Joseph W. Palese, PE,
Managing Risk on the Railway Infrastructure World
Congress on Railway Research Report, pp 1-18, (WCRR
2006)
[9] Crack Detection in Railway Tracks Nehru College
of Engineering and Research Centre,
Coimbatore.
[10] V.Pedda Obulesu, T. Nagendra Goud, B.V.
Madhusudhan
Reddy,
P.Uday
Kumar
A
Microcontroller Based Stout Robot with Automatic
Crack Detection in Railway Trackes Using LED-LDR
Assembly International Journal of Science, Engineering
and Technology Research (IJSETR), Volume 3, Issue 5,
pp 1453-1457, May 2014
[11] Nisha S.Punekar, Archana A. Raut, Improving
Railway Safety with Obstacle Detection and Tracking
System using GPS-GSM Mode International Journal of
Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 4, Issue 8,
pp 282-288, August-2013
[12] Juan J. Garca, Cristina Losada, Felipe Espinosa,
Jess Urea, lvaro Hernndez, Manuel Mazo, Carlos
de Marziani, Ana Jimnez, Emilio Bueno, Dedicated
Smart IR Barrier for Obstacle Detection in Railways,
pp 439-444, September 10.
[13] Rossi Passarella, Bambang Tutuko2 & Aditya P.P.
Prasetyo1, Design Concept of Train Obstacle Detection
System In Indonesia IJRRAS 9 (3), pp 453-460,
December 2011.
[14] Francois A. Burger A Practical Continuous
Operating Rail Break Detection System Using Guided
Waves 18th World Conference on Non-destructive
Testing, Durban, South Africa April 2012.
[15] Shanthini. M, Charanya.V, and S.Sneha Chowdary
Electromagnetic System for Railroad Track Crack
Detection British Journal of Science ,Vol. 4 (1), pp 4956 , February 2012. [16] Nikit Shah, Digital Railway
Signaling and Fracture Detection, Volume 18, Number
54, pp 107-110, May 10, 2014

Divya Jyoti College of Engineering & Technology, Modinagar, Ghaziabad (U.P.), India

135