Even today, trains are operated on this system at many places.
Indian Railway Token Exchange System: Railways are the cheapest and largest means of travelling in India. Every day millions of people travel by train. Railways are constantly making efforts to make the travel of passengers convenient. This is the reason why Indian Railways is constantly making itself advanced. Since independence, many big changes have taken place in the railways. But, there are some places in the country where the methods of the British era are still being adopted. One such method is token exchange.
Let us tell you that in some places in India, the token exchange system used in the railways during the British era is still in use. Although the token exchange system is gradually ending in the railways, but it is still being used at some places. In this system, an iron ring is given to the train driver and this ring is very important for the train to start and stop. Let us tell you what is the token exchange technology in Indian Railways?
Iron ring is necessary for running the train
If you don’t know, then let us tell you that the purpose of token exchange in Indian Railways i.e. giving an iron ring to the train driver was to ensure the safe delivery of the train to its destination. This means that the work of this iron ring was related to the safe operation of trains. In the olden days, there was no track circuit, so trains used to reach their destination only through token exchange.
If we talk about 50 years ago, the railway tracks were very small in many places in the country. At some places, there was only a single track on which both incoming and outgoing trains used to run. In such a situation, token exchange was the only way to prevent two trains from colliding.
This is how the token exchange system works
A large iron ring is used in token exchange technology. When a train ran on the track, the station master would give the iron ring to the train driver. Getting the iron ring meant that the track on which the train was running was completely clear. When the train reached its destination, the loco pilot i.e. the driver would deposit that iron ring and then the same ring would be given to the driver of the other train running on that track.
Let us tell you that in token exchange, there is an iron ball in the iron ring. This ball is called tablet. The station master takes the token from the loco pilot and fits the token ball on it on the nail ball machine installed at the station. With this, the route till the next station is considered clear. If for some reason the train does not reach the station, then the nail ball machine installed at the previous station will not be unlocked and no train from that station will be able to come on that track.
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