In a bid to boost safety, electronic interlocking has been successfully implemented at 159 stations by the South East Central Railway (SECR) comprising Nagpur, Raipur and Bilaspur divisions. The target is to install electronic interlocking at 22 more stations by March 2025. "Significant progress in expansion of electronic interlocking across SECR is being made to ensure smooth rail operations. The modern electronic interlocking system will be installed at all the remaining stations in the future," said SECR officials. This project is being carried out under the principal chief signal and telecommunication engineer. The aim is to make rail operations safer, more efficient, and more reliable using new technologies. The electronic interlocking system is a big change in the signaling technology used by railways. "It ensures the safe operation of trains on different railway lines. This system is replacing the old mechanical and relay-based interlocking systems. Electronic interlocking can be easily integrated with other new technologies like automatic signaling and Kavach - the desi train collision avoidance system)," officials told TOI. Officials said the implementation of electronic interlocking with the automatic signaling system is being done on a large scale in SECR. This will greatly improve both the efficiency and safety of rail operations. Talking about the advantages of the electronic interlocking systems, SECR officials said the chances of human errors are very low in the electronic interlocking system as it uses digital technology. In the old panel and relay interlocking systems, manual work was needed which could lead to accidents. As there is no manual work in the new system, the possibility of making mistakes is greatly reduced. The panel/relay interlocking system needed big panels, more relay racks, and lots of wiring. However, the electronic interlocking system needs only software and very little hardware, so it is cheaper and needs less space. The new system provides the facility to monitor the signals, track, and train movement in real-time. Because of this, any problem can be solved immediately. Senior officials say this system needs less time and money for maintenance compared to the old system. The panel/relay interlocking often had technical problems and needed a lot of maintenance. The electronic interlocking system is automatic and needs very little maintenance.