Train accidents and probes to determine the cause of such accidents are commonplace for the world’s largest railways network. However, thanks to a software developed by R&D wing of TCS, Indian Railways may be able to predict faults on railway tracks and prevent possible accidents.

A White Paper on Indian Railway safety, issued by ministry of railways, states that over 70% of accidents in India are due to derailments and account for about 15% of deaths. To provide railway maintenance engineers with ‘predictive capabilities’, TCS teamed with the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad firm, the second largest railroad firm in US, to develop a solution called ‘Track Predictive Indices’ (TPI).

The TCS R&D division and Tata Research Development and Design Centre (TRDDC), devised sophisticated statistical models for predicting track failures by making use of track inspection data. As a result, maintenance engineers can quickly spot tracks that could widen dangerously, or rails that could wear excessively and cracks that could expand severely causing the rail to fracture. TPI makes these predictions available at the click of a button and facilitates prompt decision-making for taking care of the track, Professor Mathai Joseph, director of TRDDC said.

‘‘We are talking to senior officials in railway ministry and RDSO (R&D Standard Organisation for the Indian Railways,) and there is considerable interest,’’ Joseph said. TCS is also in talks with other US-based railroad companies besides railway networks in Europe and Australia for deploying the software with those railways networks, Joseph said.