British era signalling system for trains still in practice

Divya Sharma

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 3

Even 70 years after the Britishers left the country, the Amritsar and Attari railway stations are among the few using the Neale’s ball token instrument to run trains on single-line rail journeys.

The system introduced by the British is a reminder of their legacy in new digital India. At present, the system is being used at the Amritsar-Chheharta rail line, Amritsar-Bhagtanwala rail track and Attari Railway Station to Khasa Railway Station. However, the Railways is all set to replace it with a technologically advanced system within a few months.

Under the system, the departure and arrival stations have to work through interconnected Neale’s instrument placed at both stations. To run a train, a signal is sent to the destined station by pulling the handle of the instrument. Once a signal is received, a metal ball called token is generated at the departing via machine. The token number is communicated telephonically to the authorities at the other station.

In order to begin, the token generated is handed over to the driver as an authority to proceed. This token is a confirmation of the rail line being cleared for the journey. The token has to be submitted at various crossing stations and a new token is provided to the driver at each such station. At the end of the journey, the token has to be submitted at the destined station. The authorities then place the token back in the machine, therefore marking culmination of the journey.

Amrik Singh, Deputy Station Superintendent at Amritsar, said, “The system ensures safety in the journey as at one time only one train can run on a particular line. Placing back the token in the machine is a symbol that the train has completed its journey and no other train is plying on the same track. The movement of token tracks the journey of a particular train. It’s a little time consuming.”

Attari Railway Station Superintendent Arvind Kumar Gupta said, “The one we have here is centuries old. This will be dismantled soon. One of the features of the system is that it ensures safety of trains. A driver is assured that the rail line is only dedicated to him.”

What’s Neale’s ball token instrument?

Designed by Neale, an engineer with the GIP Railway (currently Central Railway), it is an electro-mechanical instrument provided at each station on single line railway sections. It ensures safety in train operations by dispensing tokens which are handed over to train drivers as authority to enter a block section. The tokens are spherical steel balls, which are issued in such a manner that only one token can be issued for one direction at a time after ensuring that previous train has already cleared the section. The system is more commonly used for single lines because of the greater risk of collision.