POINT MACHINE

It’s an electric or hydraulic or pneumatic mechanism that aligns the points with one of the
possible routes. The switch motor also includes electrical contacts to detect that the switch has
completely set and locked. If the switch fails to do this, signals are kept at red. There is also
usually some kind of manual handle for operating the switch in emergencies, such as power
failures

(The points (switch rails or point blades) are the movable rails which guide the wheels towards
either the straight or the diverging track. They are tapered on most switches, but on stub switches
they have square ends..

Principle
Modern point machines have an electric motor and gears to convert rotating motion of motor into
linear motion. The gear assembly also provides required transmission ratio so that it can generate
necessary force to move switch blades. The machine performs following functions.
1. Moving switch blades.
2. Locking the blades.
3. Detection and proving the position of blades.

Electric point machine with internal locking serves to operate the point tongue rails and lock
them in their respective end positions. Provision is available for the detection of both the switch
rails, mid stroke operation and setting of the points with the help of crank handle.
Main Parts

MOTOR: 110 V DC split field series motor.

TRANSMISSION ASSEMBLY: It transmits power from motor to drive rod which

operates the point

DRIVE ROD: It provides thrust for operation of point and to which point operating rod is
connected.

LOCK ROD: It is connected to switch rails and has suitable notches for locking.

DETECTOR: A device to prove correct setting and locking of points

Operation:

The rotary motion of the motor is transmitted through reduction gears and transmission assembly
and converted into a linear movement of a toothed rack through a pinion. The gear rack drives
the switch rails to the required position and the locking slide and gear rack get locked at the end
of its stroke by a segment engaging in their locking curves.
1 Cast Iron Housing
2 Housing cover assembly with lock
3 Geared Motor assembly (Split field DC Electric Motor)
4 Switch Pedestal with contact device
5a Cover assembly for Gear rack
5b Cover assembly for detection slide
6 Transmission assembly (including friction clutch.)
7a. Gear rack (Throw rod)
7b. Locking rod
8 Detector Slide Left hand Detector Slide Right hand
9 Lubricating of cover assembly
10 Voltage cutout switch
 TRACK CIRCUIT

A track circuit is a simple electrical device used to detect the presence or absence of a train on
rail tracks, used to inform signallers and control relevant signals

Principles :

The basic principle behind the track circuit lies in the connection of the two rails by the wheels
and axle of locomotives and rolling stock to short out an electrical circuit. This circuit is
monitored by electrical equipment to detect the presence or absence of the trains.

Since this is a safety appliance, fail-safe operation is crucial; therefore the circuit is designed to
indicate the presence of a train when failures occur

Operation:

A track circuit typically has power applied to each rail and a relay coil wired across them. Each
circuit detects a defined section of track, such as a block. These sections are separated by
insulated joints, usually in both rails.

To prevent one circuit from falsely powering another in the event of insulation failure, the
electrical polarity is usually reversed from section to section. Circuits are commonly battery-
powered at low voltages (1.5 to 12 V DC) to protect against line power failures.

When no train is present, the relay is energised by the current flowing from the power source
through the rails. When a train is present, its axles short (shunt) the rails together; the current to
the track relay coil drops, and it is de-energised. Circuits through the relay contacts therefore
report whether or not the track is occupied.
Types of Tack Ckt:

The most common form of track circuit used is the detection of a train by the closing of an
electrical circuit between the two rails because of the conducting nature of the rolling stock. This
circuit may use DC in the simplest form, or may use AC, at various frequencies or with coded
pulses.

1. DC Track Circuit (double-rail)

Double-rail DC track circuits are generally found only in non-electrified sections, and only
where there is no concern with stray currents circulating in the earth or in the rails. The track
circuit consists of a portion of the track which is insulated from the rest of the track by means of
insulated rail joints. Within the section so insulated, bonding wires are provided to maintain good
conductivity between adjacent rails. The rails on one side are insulated from those on the other
by the use of wooden or other non-metallic sleepers. The track relay is connected across the two
rails at one end of the track-circuited section, and a DC power source (track battery) is
connected across the rails at the other end along with a regulating resistance. When there is no
train in the section, the circuit is completed through the track relay which is therefore energized.
The energization of the relay lights an appropriate indicator lamp in the cabin, but may also pull
a signal off for entry to the section. When a train enters the section, it shunts the current through
the track relay, which as a consequence is de-energized, leading in turn to an appropriate
indication at the cabin, and to signals controlling entry to the section being set to danger and
locked from being pulled off. Further, note that if the track battery fails, or the bonding
connectors between rails break, the relay is de-energized and these failure conditions also result
in signals being set to danger. Where traffic is (mostly) unidirectional on a line, the track relay is
placed at the entrance end, so that the relay is de-energized as soon as the train enters the section,
and operation of the relay is not compromised by leakage currents and other problems. Leakage
currents between the rails always exist, and can reach high levels when it rains and at other
times, which has to be taken into consideration when designing the circuit and its operating
current values. The ballast makes a difference, with broken stone being the best and cinder being
a poor candidate because it holds a lot of moisture. Ballast resistance should usually not be less
than 6.5 ohms/km when wet. The resistance of the rails and the bonding wires should be less
than 0.5 ohm/km.
DC track circuits of this kind are simple and cheap to install. When there are stray currents found
in a region, these track circuits are often very problematic to use. Even if they are used, the
presence of stray currents usually severely limits the length of the track which can be part of the
track circuit.

2. Single-rail DC Track Circuit

In 25kV AC electrified areas, single-rail DC track circuits can be used. Rails on one side of the
track are used for the the returning traction current, with adjacent rails being bonded together for
conductivity. Rails on the other side are bonded together in the section of the track circuit, but
insulated at either end. The track relay and track battery are connected across the rails within the
track circuit section as usual, but with high impedance chokes to prevent the traction current
from flowing into the relay or battery. High-voltage fuses are also provided to protect the track
circuit equipment from accidentally getting 25kV across it from a downed contact wire. The
principle of operation is the same as with the plain two-rail DC track circuit described above. As
a further safety measure, a high-voltage fuse or 'interval of discharge' (a device like a lightning
protector) is provided across the rails so that if the contact wire breaks and falls on the rails, the
insulated rail gets connected to the uninsulated one and is therefore earthed. The uninsulated rail
on one track is bonded to the uninsulated rail of an adjacent track circuit as well, to provide a
path for traction currents if the uninsulated rail breaks. Beyond the track circuit area, tranverse
rail bonding connects the rails on either side together - this distributes the traction current better
across both rails outside the track circuit.
This system is simple and cheap to install, but has some disadvantages. If one insulated rail joint
fails, the track circuit is effectively expanded and will interfere with the operation of adjacent
track circuits. Return traction currents or stray currents cause a longitudinal voltage drop across
the uninsulated rail, which limits the length of the track circuited section. Finally, in contrast to
AC track circuits that use impedance bonds and double insulated rails, a single broken rail cannot
be easily detected by the imbalance of return currents.

3. Audio Frequency Track Circuit

Most zones now have many sections that use AFTC, or Audio-Frequency Track Circuits, that are
like the AC track circuits described above, but using a signalling frequency that is higher. Many
frequencies are used. In early systems, 175Hz, 225Hz, 270Hz, 320Hz, and 831.33Hz were
common. Multiples of 50Hz were avoided so that there is no interference from harmonics of the
common line frequency for other electrical equipment or the AC traction supply. Today, there
are many different systems. ABB equipment uses 1549Hz, 1699Hz, 1848Hz, 1996Hz, 2146Hz,
2296Hz, 2445Hz, and 2593Hz. Siemens equipment uses 4.75kHz, 5.25kHz, 5.75kHz, 6.25kHz,
9.5kHz, 10.5kHz, 11.5kHz, 12.5kHz, 13.5kHz, 14.5kHz, 15.5kHz, and 16.5kHz. Siemens
equipment uses 1700Hz, 2000Hz, 2300Hz, and 2600Hz. A variant known as DC-coded AFTC
from Alstom uses frequencies like 2100Hz, 2500Hz, 2900Hz, 3300Hz, 3700Hz, and 4100Hz.

AFTC is more reliable, especially where both DC and AC traction are in use, and allows the
track circuit length to be increased a lot. The pioneers in adopting AFTC over simple DC or low-
frequency AC track-circuiting were WR, SR, and CR (Dombivli, Pune-Lonavala, Chennai-
Tambaram, Anand-Vatva, etc.). As with the low-frequency AC track circuits, a band-pass filter
and a rectifier are used to extract the signal; however, in many cases an amplifier is needed to
strengthen the signal.

4. High Frequency Track Circuit

As the name implies, High Frequency Track Circuits (HFTC) use substantially higher
frequencies, e.g., 40kHz, for the track circuit current. This kind of track circuit operates a little
differently from the other AC track circuit types. Impedance bonds are not used. Instead, at either
end of the track circuit, rail-to-rail shorts are provided. A signal transmitter that generates the
high frequency signal is connected to the rails at one end using an adapting transformer, which
has one winding across the rails with a capacitor in series, while the transmitter is connected
across the other winding. Similarly, a receiver is connected across the rails at the other end using
another adapting transformer. The transmitter and receiver connections are a little distance (5m
or so) inside from the rail-to-rail shorts. The receiver usually includes a tuned filter, rectifier, and
amplifier for the signal frequency. Electrically, the track circuit zone inside the rail-to-rail shorts
looks like two tuned LC circuits in parallel, with the inductance of the enclosed section of track
in between them in series. The capacitors are adjusted so that the enclosed section of track is
tuned to the track circuit frequency. When no train is on the track, the signal from the transmitter
is received and detected at the receiver, and is used (via generation of a DC control voltage) to
keep the track relay energized. When a train approaches the track circuit, it shunts the track
circuit and - depending on the positions of the wheels - either de-tunes the circuit or shorts the
transmitter or receiver (or both). Any of these cause the track relay to be de-energized.

In a variation on the above, the transmitter may generate pulse trains of specified duration and
patterns with the high frequency signal. These are detected and converted to square waves which
activate a peak detector, which in turn controls the generation of the DC control voltage to
energize the track relay. In this scheme, different coded pulse trains can be used to control
different signalling aspects.

The rail-to-rail shorts define the limits of the track circuit and therefore the circuit is immune to
interference from adjacent track circuits. Also, the LC circuit on the receiver side can be tuned
very specifically to the track circuit frequency, so that other signalling applications that use other
frequencies can be used on the same section of track without compromising the track circuit's
operation.

CR was the first zone on IR to experiment with HFTC.

 DATA LOGGER EQUIPMENT

The data logger from is a microprocessor based system to monitor and record all activities and
events in the signaling system of a railway station/yard in the chronological order. This data
forms the basis for predictive and proactive maintenance.

A typical Data Logger installation consists of Data Logger Equipment, Fault Analysis software
and a Central Monitoring Unit (CMU). The system provides facility to generate wide variety of
reports in both offline & real time formats.

The Data Logger system has been designed to function both as a standalone unit and as part of a
network of many Data Loggers.
 AXLE COUNTER

An axle counter is a device on a railway that detects the passing of a train in lieu of the more
common track circuit. A counting head (or 'detection point') is installed at each end of the
section, and as each axle passes the head at the start of the section, a counter increments. A
detection point comprises two independent sensors, therefore the device can detect the direction
of a train by the order in which the sensors are passed. As the train passes a similar counting
head at the end of the section, the counter decrements. If the net count is evaluated as zero, the
section is presumed to be clear for a second train.

This is carried out by safety critical computers called 'evaluators' which are centrally located,
with the detection points located at the required sites in the field. The detection points are either
connected to the evaluator via dedicated copper cable or via a telecommunications transmission
system. This allows the detection points to be located significant distances from the evaluator.

The track device is fixed in the centre of track circuit in case of single line section. In case of
double line section, the device is fixed either in the centre or at the end of track circuit depending
upon the length of track circuit provided, so that in case of wrong side movement the axle
counter should work satisfactorily.
A transmitter and receiver cables are run separately at a minimum separation of 500 mm.
Transmitter and receiver cables of individual track devices are to be laid in different pipes
 TRACK DEVICE ASSEMBLY

Advantages:

Unlike track circuits, axle counters do not require insulated rail joints to be installed. This avoids
breaking the continuity of long welded rails for insulated joints to be inserted.

Axle counters require no bonding and less cabling in comparison to track circuits, and are
therefore generally less expensive to install and maintain.

Axle counters are used in places such as wet tunnels where ordinary track circuits are unreliable.

Disadvantages:

Axle counters may 'forget' how many axles are in a section for various reasons such as a power
failure. A manual override is therefore necessary to reset the system

ABSOLUTE BLOCK SYSTEM OR BLOCK INSTRUMENT:

'Absolute Block' refers to a system where the the track is considered to consist of a series of
sections, such that when one train is occupying a section of track (the block section), no other
train is allowed to enter that section. In addition, no train can enter an empty block section
without first securing the permission of the station in advance. This is the most widely used
system for ordinary train routes.

A station or signalbox controls a block section in one direction (from its rear), and no train may
enter that block in that direction without permission from that signalbox. When a train has been
accepted, no other trains can be accepted on that block section until it has left that block section.

Obviously the two signalboxes at either end of the block section have to tightly coordinate their
actions, especially in the case of block sections that allow bidirectional movement on a single
line. The permission to enter the block may be in the form of a physical token carried by the train
crew while the train is in the block, or may be implicit in the aspects of signals governing access
to the block.

Block instruments (see below for details) control the coordinated movement of trains on the
block section; the block instruments of the two stations or signalboxes at either end of the block
section are electrically interconnected for this purpose. (Normally a simple audio-frequency
modulated code transmitted over trackside or underground wires is used for this purpose; earlier
block instruments were connected directly (by DC voltages).) In physical token block areas, the
block instrument is also the device that dispenses the tokens, and hence is also known as the
token instrument.

TOKEN SYSTEM AND TOKENLESS SYSTEM

A token block system uses a physical item (the token) of some sort, such as a ball, which is
physically carried or manipulated in some way to indicate permission for a train to enter a block
of track.
A tokenless system, such as may be obtained by a combination of interlocking and semaphore
signals, does not require the train crew to carry or manipulate anything tangible to enter or leave
a block of track; they follow the signals and interlocking handles the rest.
OVERVIEW OF SIGNAL EQUIPMENTS USED IN RAILWAYS
 RELAYS
  
 
Relays are electro-mechanical devices used for switching. Relays are used to make the
signaling logic circuits in the interlocking plants. They consists of one or two magnetic
coils (electro magnets) and a set of contacts.  

Magnetic System

The magnetic system of the relay illustrated below (JRK 10 type) consists of a
cylindrical iron core with coil (pale blue near the bottom), two pole pieces and an
armature. Larger relays (JRK 11) have two iron cores united at the rear with a yoke and
the front end being provided with pole pieces. The armature extends across both pole
pieces.

Iron core, pole pieces and armature are made out

of iron with excellent magnetic properties. The
armatures are so balanced that the vibration on
the unit will not affect the relay operation.

Contacts:

The relay contacts can be classified into four

types.  A relay unit will contain a combination
of these types
.

Front contact -
NO

Back contact -
NC

Front/ Back
contact

Make before
break contact
The contact springs are made out of nickel and the contacts tips are silver. The front
contacts are of twin contacts and the back contacts are single contact type. The rear end
of the  contact springs are fixed between two blocks of transfer molded carbonate
plastic reinforced with glass fibre.  The stationary contact springs are supported at their
free ends by a strip with notches, which limits the spring movement. The lower end of
this strip is attached to the magnet support.

The movable contact springs are guided by an actuating strip which at the lower end
attached by bearings to the armature and at the upper end to the upper most movable
contact spring. The front edge of the actuating strip provided with slots, which lock the
spring and guide the movement of the contacts.

The rear end of every contact spring has eight forked terminals.  This provides a very
dependable connections to the plug board terminals, when the relays are plugged in.
 

TYPES OF RELAYS:
  
 

Relays can be categorized according to the magnetic system and operation.

Neutral Relays

This is the most elementary type of relay. The neutral relays have a magnetic coil,
which operates the relay at a specified current, regardless of the polarity of the voltage
applied.

Biased Relays

Biased relays have a permanent magnet above the armature. The relay operates if the
current through the coil winding establishes a magneto-motive force that opposes the
flux by the permanent magnet. If the fluxes are in the same direction, the relay will not
operate, even for a greater current through the coil.

Polarized Relays

Like the biased relays, the polarized relays operate only when the current through the
coil in one direction. But there the principle is different. The relay coil has a diode
connected in series with it. This blocks the current in the reverse direction.

The major difference between biased relays and polarized relays is that the former
allows the current to pass through in the reverse direction, but does the not operate the
relay and the later blocks the current in reverse direction.  You can imagine how critical
these properties when relays are connected in series to form logic circuits.

Magnetic Stick Relays or Permopolarized Relays

These relays have a magnetic circuit with high remanence.  Two coils, one to operate
(pick up) and one to release (drop) are present.  The relay is activated by a current in the
operate coil. On the interruption of the current the armature remains in picked up
position by the residual magnetism. The relay is released by a current through the
release coil.

Slow Release Relays

These relays have a capacitor connected in parallel to their coil. When the operating
current is interrupted the release of relay is delayed by the stored charge in the
capacitor. The relay releases as the capacitor discharges through the coil.

Relays for AC

These are neutral relays and picked up for a.c. current through their coil. These are very
fast in action and used on power circuits of the point motors, where high current flows
through the contacts. A normal relay would be slow and make sparks which in turn may
weld the contacts together.

All relays have two operating values (voltages), one pick-up and the other other drop
away. The pick-up value is higher than the drop away value.