20120422 Damaged cables may have caused Kurla signal cabin fire
India Apr 21 2012 “Houses”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Damaged cables may have caused Kurla signal cabin fire
Updated: 2012-04-22-05:37
MUMBAI: The fire that affected the signalling cabin at Kurla and Vidyavihar on April 18 may have been caused due to damage to underground cables at two spots. Short-circuit or fault current led to cancellation and delays in hundreds of services over two days.
A senior official revealed, “Multiple agencies were working in the area. The three-member high level committee will identify the agency responsible for damaging the cable.” He added, “Due to a puncturing in the cable that carried 1500 volt direct current (DC) power, the entire current leaked via the adjoining signalling cable, which runs through the Kurla signalling cabin to the Vidyavihar cabin.”
Technically, the signalling cable is there to control slot, which is basically transfer of control of a few signals from one cabin to another. The official explained, “For example, if a train is about to leave from the Kurla yard, the Vidyavihar cabin will give a slot to the train and the Kurla cabin will give a signal.”
This signalling cable runs through from the Kurla cabin to the Vidyavihar cabin since it is associated with slot control. Which is why the fault current developed simultaneously at both the cabins, he added. The damage to the cables could be because of digging, welding that lead to melting of cable, etc.
Both the cabins are according to the DC standards, which does not include earthing and short-circuit relay. However, this fault will go away once the 25000 volt Alternating Current (AC) system becomes operational. He further said that the newly-built Vidyavihar cabin had a fire alarm, which went off as soon as the blaze was detected. Hence, timely action was taken to douse the fire.
At Kurla, the fire alarm is located in the cable room and not in the relay room, which are located on different floors.
Around 68 signals stopped working in the affected stretch, forcing CR to run only 70% of its services on April 18 and 85% on April 19.
The fire occurred at around 12am and was doused by 12.30am. Apart from affecting suburban services, CR has unable to run goods services – major source of revenue – as signals at points are not working. As a result, trains cannot interchange tracks and trains can only in straight direction.
Web Source: The Times of India