ITB Alumni Explained the Train Signaling System that Ensure the Passenger Safety

Oleh Adi Permana

Editor Vera Citra Utami

BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – Signaling system is a means to ensure the safety of train travel from a station to the next one. The Centralized Railway Traffic Control System is a part of the train signaling system. The CTC system acted as a centralized train travel traffic control system.


"The Centralized Railway Traffic Control System controls the signaling system on a train," said the ITB Physics Engineering, Agung Prasdianto, S.T., who is the Interlocking Software Engineer at PT LEN Railway System. Mr. Agung is the main speaker at the "Train Signaling System and Centralized Traffic Control System" webinar that was led by Ir. Edi Leksono, M.Eng., Ph.D. on Wednesday (23/6/2021).

According to Agung, the signaling system has a lot of components and technologies that work together to ensure passenger safety in an interlocking system. Every device on the signaling system, such as the track turnout, train presence detector, operator service table, and the block plane is interconnected and interconnected.

"A train cannot suddenly stop; it needs a long distance to ensure the safety of its passengers. To make sure that there will be no accident, a competent signaling system is needed," said Agung. The signaling system will divide the train travel space into a square area called a block. The divided signal will guarantee that there will be no accident.
There are three main signaling devices that are commonly used for operating trains in Indonesia, that is the mechanical lever, local control panel, and visual display unit. A human operator is needed to operate these devices.

Moreover, Mr. Agung also explained the train present detector device. Two main components compose this device, that is axle counter and track circuit. The axle counter works with another device called Evaluator to count the number of passing train wheels. The sensory devices are connected to each other by using the interlocking system, both mechanical and electrical.

There are various components that compose the electric interlocking system. An LCP/CDU system is used as the system operator while the CTC/CTS SilVue OI1000 system is used as the operation control center. "The technician terminal, or also known as the train's black box, records all the signal activities and events that happened on the train. The technician terminal can also record the time an alarm was on and whenever there is any disturbance," he explained.

The interlocking system also adopts electric relay and controller technologies. SiLSafe400 is one interlocking system that is produced by PT. Len, which supports the safety controller system and has SIL 4 CENELLEC certification.
The SilSafe4000 can be integrated with the CTC/CTS SilVue OI1000 system. The CTC/CTS SilVue acts as an Operation Control Center system that can monitor and control multiple interlocking systems in a single location.
The CTC/CTS SilVue OI1000 can increase the operator efficiency in monitoring and operating train travel. It will in turn reduce the number of human personnel required on each station.

Reporter: Yoel Enrico Meiliano (TPB FTI, 2020)
Translator: Favian Aldilla (Civil Engineering, 2019)


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