How a monkeys stop trains on their tracks
HYDERABAD, OCTOBER 07, 2018 00:00 IST
Monkey menace:A file picture of a bonnet macaque that got stuck in between the overhead power linesM. Sathyamoorthy
A vexed SCR has come out with an ‘anti-monkey climbing circuit’ to shock them away
There’s no business that’s not monkeys’. Anything to climb and cling on to is game.
They are now playing havoc with railway systems too. Their antics disrupt train services and send schedules haywire as it had happened recently in one of the key sections under the South Central Railway (SCR).
A barrel of monkeys tripped an overhead power line and caused a three-hour delay of a goods train which cascaded on the other train services a few days ago on the busy Kazipet section. Reason? This particular section does not yet have the unique, in-house developed ‘anti-monkey climbing circuit’.
The monkeys began ‘playing’ with the railway equipment in the super busy railway sections between Kazipet-Vijayawada and Kazipet-Balharshah routes in the last few years especially in the forest areas en route at Dornakal, Mahabubabad, Ramagundam, Raghavapuram, etc.
Failed methods
“We have had various conventional methods to deal with the monkey menace like spiked cables, a slippery cylindrical drum attached and the likes. But they are smart enough to get over those hurdles and cause havoc with our insulators, and trip the system,” explains SCR’s senior divisional engineer-traction Anand Chekkila.
Conceived and designed by the Secunderabad Division engineers, the ‘anti-monkey climbing circuit’ is powered through a solar panel and a mast is provided for the monkey to climb on to an overhead traction when it will get a powerful, yet “milli-second” shock sending the simian scurrying and warning its troop.
He and his team had devised the technology solution to arrest these incidents and showcased it to General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav and other senior officers. Mr. Yadav was quick to adopt the concept and accorded permission for it to be installed on the Dornakal section from November last year. Now, it has been tested successfully and is planned to be taken up on a mass scale.
Milli-second shock mend
“There is absolutely no harm to the monkey when it gets the 2,000-volt milli-second shock. It will scamper away and never return to the spot,” insists Mr. Anand. The innovative device, unique to Indian Railways, is to be put up in vulnerable locations to bring down power tripping incidents and reduce disruption in trains services. That’s a benign remedy.
There is absolutely no harm to the monkey when it gets the 2,000-volt milli-second shock. It will scamper away and never return to the spot.
Anand Chekkila,
SCR senior divisional engineer (traction)
HYDERABAD, OCTOBER 07, 2018 00:00 IST
Monkey menace:A file picture of a bonnet macaque that got stuck in between the overhead power linesM. Sathyamoorthy
A vexed SCR has come out with an ‘anti-monkey climbing circuit’ to shock them away
There’s no business that’s not monkeys’. Anything to climb and cling on to is game.
They are now playing havoc with railway systems too. Their antics disrupt train services and send schedules haywire as it had happened recently in one of the key sections under the South Central Railway (SCR).
A barrel of monkeys tripped an overhead power line and caused a three-hour delay of a goods train which cascaded on the other train services a few days ago on the busy Kazipet section. Reason? This particular section does not yet have the unique, in-house developed ‘anti-monkey climbing circuit’.
The monkeys began ‘playing’ with the railway equipment in the super busy railway sections between Kazipet-Vijayawada and Kazipet-Balharshah routes in the last few years especially in the forest areas en route at Dornakal, Mahabubabad, Ramagundam, Raghavapuram, etc.
Failed methods
“We have had various conventional methods to deal with the monkey menace like spiked cables, a slippery cylindrical drum attached and the likes. But they are smart enough to get over those hurdles and cause havoc with our insulators, and trip the system,” explains SCR’s senior divisional engineer-traction Anand Chekkila.
Conceived and designed by the Secunderabad Division engineers, the ‘anti-monkey climbing circuit’ is powered through a solar panel and a mast is provided for the monkey to climb on to an overhead traction when it will get a powerful, yet “milli-second” shock sending the simian scurrying and warning its troop.
He and his team had devised the technology solution to arrest these incidents and showcased it to General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav and other senior officers. Mr. Yadav was quick to adopt the concept and accorded permission for it to be installed on the Dornakal section from November last year. Now, it has been tested successfully and is planned to be taken up on a mass scale.
Milli-second shock mend
“There is absolutely no harm to the monkey when it gets the 2,000-volt milli-second shock. It will scamper away and never return to the spot,” insists Mr. Anand. The innovative device, unique to Indian Railways, is to be put up in vulnerable locations to bring down power tripping incidents and reduce disruption in trains services. That’s a benign remedy.
There is absolutely no harm to the monkey when it gets the 2,000-volt milli-second shock. It will scamper away and never return to the spot.
Anand Chekkila,
SCR senior divisional engineer (traction)
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