Improved fire and smoke alarm system in trains

Indian Railways has developed a fire & smoke detection system to be installed on train coaches for passengers safety. The system is capable of checking and giving alarm to passengers during initial stages of fire, thereby giving valuable time for shifting to safe areas and evacuation, says government reports.

The automatic fire and smoke detection system as tried out is based on Very Early Warning Smoke Detection System (VEWSD) strategy to detect smoke/fire at incipient stage of smoke, fire through continuous multi-point sampling and analysis of coach environment. The system is suitable for controlled environment i.e. for AC coaches only.

There are 4 alarm levels called as Alert, Action, Fire-1 and Fire-2. In order of severity of fire and taken by the staff, the passengers to be taken accordingly. The system has been subjected to trials on Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani. During trial period, two actual fire incidences were detected by the system in two coaches of Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani and timely warning saved loss of property and life.

Rail Coach Factory has recently installed this system on one more rake of LHB Rajdhani dispatched to Northern Railway which will be used to run 12454/12453, New Delhi Ranchi Rajdhani train.