Minor on

Implementation of Automatic Railway

Gate Controller

Under the guidance of

Dr. Malti Bansal
Assistant Professor,
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering,
Delhi Technological University

Submitted byAnadi Anant Jain

Ankush Bhushan
Bhavyai Gupta
Faizan Ayubi

2K12/EC/024
2K12/EC/029
2K12/EC/051
2K12/EC/065

BTech
Electronics and Communication Engineering, Delhi Technological University
Shahbad Daulatpur, Mani Bawana Road, Delhi-110042

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Certificate
This is to certify that the report entitled Implementation of Automatic Railway Gate
Controller with High Speed Alerting System is a bona fide record of Seminar
submitted by Bhavyai Gupta (Roll no. 2K12/EC/051) as the record of the work carried
out by him under my guidance. It is being accepted in fulfillment of the Minor
Project, in the department of Electronics and Communication, Delhi Technological
University, Delhi.

Project Guide

Dr Malti Bansal
Assistant Professor
Department of Electronics
and Communication
Engineering
Delhi Technological University

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Acknowledgement
I express my deepest gratitude to my project guide Dr. Malti Bansal, Department of
Electronics and Communication Engineering, Delhi Technological University whose
encouragement, guidance, and support from the initial to the final level enabled me
to develop an understanding of the subject. Her suggestion and ways of
summarizing the things made me to go for independent studying and trying my best
to get the maximum in the topic, this made my circle of knowledge very vast. I am
highly thankful to her for guiding me in this project.
Finally, I take this opportunity to extend my deep appreciation to my family and my
group members Anadi Anant Jain, Ankush Bhushan and Faizan Ayubi, for all that
they meant to me during the crucial times of the completion of my project.

Date

Bhavyai Gupta
Roll no. 2k12/EC/051
BTech (ECE)
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Index
S No

Title

Page No

01

Abstract

02

Introduction

03

What is Level Crossing

04

Rail Accidents

05

Cause of Accidents

11

06

Accidents and Death

12

07

Steps by Government

14

08

Hardware Specifications

15

09

Working

19

10

Arduino Code

20

11

Conclusion

21

12

References

22

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Abstract
The objective of this project is to provide an automatic railway gate at a level
crossing replacing the gates operated by the gatekeeper.
The road users have to wait for a long time before the arrival of train and even after
the train has left. And secondly the chances of accidents that usually made by the
carelessness of the road users or due to the time errors made by the gatekeepers is
more. Here comes the importance of automatic railway gate control system.
The system reduces the time for which the gate remains closed. This type of gates
can be employed in an unmanned level crossing where the chances of accidents are
higher and reliable operation is required.
Since, the operation is automatic; error due to manual operation is prevented. The
system works on a microcontroller based control. The proposed system uses Ardino
Uno R3 microcontroller. With the help of IR sensors, the arrival and leaving of the
system is monitored and the gate is operated accordingly with the help of DC Motor.

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Introduction
Indian Railways is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km
(71,000 mi) of track over a route of 65,436 km (40,660 mi) and 7,172 stations. It has
23 million passengers daily and 8,245 million passengers annually. Its revenue in
2013-14 was Rs.1441.67 Billion.
Railroad related accidents are more dangerous than other transportation accidents in
terms of severity and death rate etc. Therefore more efforts are necessary for
improving safety.
The number of deaths on railway tracks has been on the rise in the past few years
despite several measures taken by the authorities to contain such incidents. Mishaps
at level crossings are the biggest killer, although trespassing into railway premises
including the track is a punishable offence under Section 147 of the Railways Act.

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What is Level crossing?

Level Crossing is a place where a railway and a road, or two railway lines, cross at the
same level. It is called Grade Crossing in North America.

Types of Level Crossing in India

1. Special Class Level Crossing
Normally kept open to road traffic
Equipped with lifting barriers
2. A Class Level Crossings
Normally kept open to road traffic
Equipped with lifting barriers
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3. B Class Level Crossings

Normally kept closed to road traffic
Lifting barriers shall be provided
4. C Class Level Crossings
Normally kept closed to road traffic
These are manned
5. D Class Level Crossing
For cattle crossing

All rail or road intersections are provided with either passive or active protection.

Passive Protection
Passive protection is the application of passive traffic control devices (signage) which
provides an unchanging warning to the road user whether or not a train is
approaching the crossing.

Active Protection
Active protection is the application of warning devices to warn road users of the
approach of a train when the train is a minimum time from entering the road-rail
intersection. In some cases it also blocks access to the crossing.

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Rail Accidents
Railway Accidents can be classified on the basis of cause and effect, study of which
helps in preventing similar ones in future.

Based on Cause
1. Drivers Errors
Passing Signals at danger
Excessive Speed
Mishandling Engine
2. Signalmens Error
Allowing two trains into same occupied block section
Incorrect operation of signals, points or token equipment
3. Mechanical Failure
Poor Design
Poor Maintenance
4. Civil Engineering Failure
Track Faults
Bridge and Tunnel collapses
5. Due to other people
Vandalism
Terrorism
Suicide
Trespassing

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6. Contributory Factors
Fires
Effectiveness of brakes
Inadequate Rules
Level Crossing misuse

Based on Effects
1. Collisions
Head-on collision
Rear Collision
Obstructions on the line (landslides, avalanches etc)
2. Derailments
Plain track
Curves
Junctions
3. Other
Fires and explosions
Falls from trains

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Cause of Accidents
Level Crossings are one of the major causes of accidents. In spite of various measures
taken by the Indian Railways, level crossing accidents have continued to occur, that
too frequently.

Accidents at Unmanned Level Crossings are caused mainly due to trespassing by

road vehicles across these on Railway tracks. Railways have the Right of Way across
unmanned level crossings.

The road vehicle drivers are duty bound under Section 131 of the Motor Vehicles Act,
1988, to get down from the Vehicle, walk up to the crossing to ensure that no train
is approaching from either side before crossing the unmanned level crossing

Thus, the primary cause of the accidents at unmanned level crossings is

NEGLIGENCE BY ROAD VEHICLE USERS.

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Accidents and Deaths

Level Crossing Accidents in Indian Railways since 2000

Year

Accidents at Level Crossing

2000-01

84

2001-02

88

2002-03

96

2003-04

95

2004-05

70

2005-06

75

2006-07

79

2007-08

77

2008-09

69

2009-10

70

2010-11

53

2011-12

61

2012-13

448

According to Indian Railway Ministry Data, recent deaths that occurred on railway
tracks were

2011
2012
2013

14,973
16,336
19,997

And according to the data prepared by safety wing of the national transporter,
railway tracks have claimed 18,735 lives till October this year.

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Main reasons for death of persons on railway tracks are trespassing, falling off trains,
accidents and suicides.

Mishaps at level crossings are the biggest killer, accounting for 40% of train accidents
and 66% of fatalities, reflecting the railways' failure to man these crossings or build
road-over bridges and road-under-bridges. There are 30,348 level crossings, of which
around 40% (11,563) are unmanned.
53 people have been killed in accidents on unmanned crossings since April this year.
In last five years, 723 people were killed in accidents at level crossings. Around 95
people were killed in accidents on unmanned crossings in 2013-14 while 124 people
lost their lives in 2012-13. The figure was 204 in 2011-12.

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Steps by Indian
government
The transport department has set target to eliminate 9,808 level crossings during the
12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) and not adding any new level crossing to the rail
network in future. But this task seems ambitious considering the financial health of
the railways as removing one level crossing costs around Rs 4.4 crore.
The high-level committee on safety, headed by Anil Kakodkar, has recommended
elimination of all level crossings (manned and unmanned) within 5 years.
The panel pegged it at Rs 50,000 crore, but said this could be recovered over 7-8
years due to saving in operation and maintenance costs incurred at gates and
smooth train operations.
"The gigantic project will also need setting up of a dedicated and empowered SPV
for each railway zone to accomplish this task within a 5-year period," it said.
With the introduction of high speed trains on the cards, Indian Railways has decided
to acquire the sophisticated "early warning system" to alert both the driver and staff
at the nearest railway station about an impending danger of an accident. This way
the railways hope to do way with human error as cause of an accident.
In a move to prevent accidents, Indian Railways is all set to start a new chapter by
introducing Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) which is based on
European Train Control System (ETCS) a proven and well known protection
technology used in several countries across the globe for prevention of accidents
caused due to human errors either by over shooting a signal or failing to adhere to
speed limit directions on the tracks.

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Hardware
Specifications
Arduino Uno
The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328 (datasheet). It
has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog
inputs, a 16 MHz ceramic resonator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header,
and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller;
simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC
adapter or battery to get started.

The Uno differs from all preceding boards in that it does not use the FTDI USB-toserial driver chip. Instead, it features the Atmega16U2 (Atmega8U2 up to version R2)
programmed as a USB-to-serial converter.

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Revision 3 (R3) of the board has the following features

pinout: added SDA and SCL pins that are near to the AREF pin and two other
new pins placed near to the RESET pin, the IOREF that allow the shields to
adapt to the voltage provided from the board. In future, shields will be
compatible with both the board that uses the AVR, which operates with 5V
and with the Arduino Due that operates with 3.3V. The second one is a not
connected pin, that is reserved for future purposes.

Stronger RESET circuit.

Atmega 16U2 replace the 8U2.

Summary of Specifications
Microcontroller
Operating Voltage
Input Voltage (recommended)
Input Voltage (limits)
Digital I/O Pins
Analog Input Pins
DC Current per I/O Pin
DC Current for 3.3V Pin
Flash Memory
SRAM
EEPROM
Clock Speed

ATmega328
5V
7 12V
6 20V
14 (of which 6 provide PWM output)
6
40mA
50mA
32kB of which 0.5 KB used by boot loader
2 KB (ATmega328)
1 KB (ATmega328)
16 MHz

The Arduino Uno can be powered via the USB connection or with an external power
supply. The power source is selected automatically.
The ATmega328 has 32 KB (with 0.5 KB used for the bootloader). It also has 2 KB of
SRAM and 1 KB of EEPROM (which can be read and written with the EEPROM library).
Each of the 14 digital pins on the Uno can be used as an input or output, using
pinMode(), digitalWrite(), and digitalRead() functions. They operate at 5 volts. Each
pin can provide or receive a maximum of 40 mA and has an internal pull-up resistor
(disconnected by default) of 20-50 k.
The Arduino Uno can be programmed with the Arduino software.
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IR Sensor
The IR Sensor-Single is a general purpose proximity sensor. Here we use it for
collision detection. The module consists of an IR emitter and IR receiver pair. The
high precision IR receiver always detects an IR signal.

The power consumption of this module is low. It gives a digital output. The output of
IR receiver goes low when it receives IR signal. Hence the output pin is normally low
because, though the IR LED is continuously transmitting, due to no obstacle, nothing
is reflected back to the IR receiver. The indication LED is off. When an obstacle is
encountered, the output of IR receiver goes low, IR signal is reflected from the
obstacle surface. This drives the output of the comparator low. This output is
connected to the cathode of the LED, which then turns ON.

DC Motor
A DC motor relies on the fact that like magnet poles repel and unlike magnetic poles
attract each other. A coil of wire with a current running through it generates an
electromagnetic field aligned with the centre of the coil. By switching the current on
or off in a coil its magnetic field can be switched on or off or by switching the
direction of the current in the coil the direction of the generated magnetic field can
be switched 180.

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A simple DC motor typically has a stationary set of magnets in the stator and an
armature with a series of two or more windings of wire wrapped in insulated stack
slots around iron pole pieces (called stack teeth) with the ends of the wires
terminating on a commutator. The armature includes the mounting bearings that
keep it in the centre of the motor and the power shaft of the motor and the
commutator connections.
Different number of stator and armature fields as well as how they are connected
provide different inherent speed/torque regulation characteristics. The speed of a DC
motor can be controlled by changing the voltage applied to the armature.

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Working of this Design

1. Detection of Train by IR Sensor : When Train arrives near Crossing the IR
Sensor Detects its Motion and then it Closes the Crossing way of Cars or Other
vehicles.
2. When The Train Further Crosses the Cross way other sensor detects the
motion and opens the cross way.
3. The Detection of Objects by IR sensor controls the Motion of DC motor which
Monitors the motion of Cross Way.

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Arduino Code
int l,r;
int leftSensor=3;
int rightSensor=4;
int roghtMotor = 12;
int leftMotor = 13;
void setup(){
pinMode(leftMotor, OUTPUT);
pinMode(roghtMotor, OUTPUT);
pinMode(rightSensor, INPUT);
pinMode(leftSensor, INPUT);
}
void loop(){
l = digitalRead (leftSensor);
r = digitalRead (rightSensor);
if( l == HIGH && r == LOW){
digitalWrite (leftMotor, HIGH);
digitalWrite (rightMotor, LOW);
delay(10000);
}
if( l == LOW && r == HIGH){
digitalWrite (leftMotor, LOW);
digitalWrite (rightMotor, HIGH);
delay(10000);
}
}

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Conclusion
The approach of using infrared sensors opened up a wide array of advantages as
opposed to the currently prevalent level crossing system. The extrapolation of this
technique to a scale of a greater magnitude coupled with the deployment of
pressure/vibration sensors offer a greater degree of reliability, precision and
efficiency.
As infrared sensors are relatively cheaper and easier to fabricate while also being
integration friendly, it decimates the possibility of casualty occurring due to
shortcoming to the existing of the manned level crossing, which rely on human
unpredictability, there by rendering it a much more effective way of supporting
vehicular movement.
Although this approach offers various distinct advantages, it does suffer from its own
set of drawbacks. Inference of radiation from other electromagnetic waves is one
issue. Also the security offered by such systems is also in doubt owing to the
possibility of any external human interference or an attempt to distort its working
environment.
Through the course of our study and research for this project, we came to know that
a great lack of acknowledgement of the importance and of safe and reliable crossing
system exists. It is therefore imperative to ensure that a significant emphasis is placed
on the design, implementation and maintenance of efficient railway level crossing.

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Bibliography
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