Marching towards a new era of technology, North Central Railway’s Kanpur Locoshed successfully conducted the trial of the End of Train Telemetry (EoTT) system on Sunday.

End of Train Telemetry (EoTT) is a cutting edge technology for the operation of the train without Brake Van on an automated system. It is an ambitious project of Indian Railways which has been put on fast track mode. EoTT technology will eliminate the requirement of the Brake Van (last vehicle of a goods train meant for guard) and perform all safety functions hitherto performed by Guard for safe operations of freight trains.

Thus, one additional wagon can be connected in place of the Brake Van thereby enhancing the scope of more loading and thereby augmenting revenue.

EoTT mainly consists of two units namely the Head of Train Unit (HoT) which is mounted on the locomotive and a portable End of Train Unit (EoT) mounted on the Centre Buffer Coupling (CBC) of the last wagon. These two units are paired and communicate with each other over a radio link.

The brake power pressure of the last vehicle of the train is displayed to the train driver in the Head of train Unit (HoT) display in the Loco Cab of the locomotive. Whenever an emergency brake is applied by the Loco Pilot in the Loco Cab, emergency brakes from the last vehicle is also applied which reduces the braking distance and time for controlling the train. Further, it will also alert Loco Pilot when the pressure level of the last vehicle moves outside the specified limits in case of the parting of the train, derailment etc.

High visibility marker light in End of Train Unit (EoT) has been provided with the facility of automatic switching on and off depending upon the ambient light condition.

EOTT has a Global Positioning System (GPS) module to indicate the location, length and speed of the train. Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication module is used for transfer of data to the server.

EoTT system has been commissioned in the loco no. 32266/WAG-9/CNB of Electric Loco Shed, Kanpur and field trial of EoTT was conducted by North Central Railway in a freight train between Kanpur and Tundla section on 01.08.2021.

A team of high officials of NCR, RDSO and BLW led by Chief Electrical Locomotive Engineer (CELE) NCR PD Mishra was present during the trial. This EoTT device has jointly been developed by RDSO Lucknow and Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW). Further, 4 such EoTT systems will be commissioned in Electric Loco Shed, Kanpur based locomotives on trial basis shortly, informed the CELE.

General Manager NCR Pramod Kumar, while commenting upon it, said, “Trial of EoTT has shown encouraging results. The technology is going to revolutionize the freight train operations in days to come.”