Indian Railway’s Stint with AI

In a surprising turn of events, the Indian Railways is planning to use artificial intelligence (AI) to control air circulation, signages and even supervision and maintenance work in the 10.28 km-long tunnel in Imphal. The tunnel is a part of the 110 km railway line from Jiribam to Manipur’s capital city.

This is the first time that such a technology will be used in a tunnel in the country, it’s already being used detect flaws or problems in the signalling system on a real-time basis and rectifying it in order to avoid possible delays and mishaps. Along with controlling the air circulation in the system, the system will also alert the passenger in case of fire and help us in quick evacuation in case of any issue. This tunnel is especially unique as it also has a safety tunnel every 500 meters. Hence in case of an accident or any mishap, all a passenger has to do is go 500 meters into the safety tunnel and through signages find his way out. The entire thing will be controlled by artificial intelligence.

A part of the railways’ project to bring connectivity to the capital city, this tunnel is one of 47 such tunnels in the Jiribam-Imphal line. The system will continuously monitor signals, track circuits, axle counters and their sub-systems of interlocking, power supply systems, including the voltage and current levels, relays, timers collect the data on a predetermined interval and send them to a central location.

It will help with its management and maintenance while helping to run trains safely through the tunnel. The tunnels become more dangerous to the public as they deteriorate and also more costly to repair. AI will help engineers and inspectors organize and analyze data collected about specific tunnels, the results of which will then be evaluated and used to predict future tunnel deterioration patterns and corresponding maintenance needs.