Automatic Railway gate controller with high-speed alerting system using PLC

Abstract

The present work attempts to automate the opening and closing of gates at a railway level crossing. In general, level crossing gates are operated manually by a gate keeper. The gate keeper receives the information about the train arrival from a near station. When the train starts to leave the station, the station in-charge delivers this information to the closest gatekeeper to get ready. This human intervention can be avoided by automating the process. In situations where the train is late due to some reason, the gates remain closed for long durations causing dense traffic jam near the gates. This too can be prevented by automation. The proposed system uses infrared sensors to detect the arrival and departure of trains at the railway level crossing and PLC (Programmable logic controller) to control the opening/closing of gates. The system uses two IR sensors to detect the arrival of the train and a third IR sensor to detect the departure of the train. When the arrival of the train is sensed, signals are provided to the traffic indicating the arrival of the train on the track. When the second sensor detects the train then the signal turns red and the motor operates to close the gate. The gate remains closed until the train completely moves away from the level cross. When the departure of the train is detected by the third sensor, the traffic signal turns green and the motor operates to open the gate. Thus automation of the gate operations at the railway level cross is achieved using sensors.