Know Your Railway:Control Organization of Southern Railway

Coimbatore 
June 21: 
The Nerve Centre of Train Operationsand In-house communicationSection Controllers play a crucial role in monitoring and regulating the movement of Trains.Manned by dedicated staff round the clock 24 X7, 365 days the Control office is the nerve center of all operations and commands. In Southern 
Railway and in its six divisions, the Control Office works 24x7, with a separate control unit set up under one common roof for each one of the departments such as Operating, Commercial, Signal and Telecommunication, Engineering, Mechanical, Traction, and Security Sections.According to 
B. Guganesan,  Chief Public Relations Officer,the Operating control monitors and regulates the movement of Mail/Express, Passenger and freight trains and it is directly in touch with Station Masters in all the Railway stations.

A jurisdiction of a Railway division is further sub-divided into sections for controlling of train operations and each section is coordinated by a Section controller at the Central control. Further, the control office co-ordinates the implementation of major engineering, construction and maintenance works that involves planning and execution of line blocks and traffic blocks. A central control at the Southern Railway Headquarters co-ordinates with all the control offices at the divisions. During exigencies, the control office staff go beyond the call of duty in maintaining safe train operations.

In view of the recent student agitations all over the country, Southern Railway Control Offices have conceptualized meticulous plans and assimilated additional taskforces to deal with any possible exigency.

The effectiveness in maintaining the train schedules lies with the staff who are in charge of the Control Room operations. Controllers are responsible for monitoring the movement of trains and ensure smooth flow of transportation of the Division. On a day-to-day basis, their duties include review of previous day’s performance and prevent recurrence of shortfalls, Prepare current forecast indicating assistance needed from Headquarters, adjoining Divisions/Railways relating to interchange, loading and locomotive utilization, Checking control charts and bringing to the notice of the Senior Divisional Operations Manager/Divisional Operations Manager all avoidable detention to trains. 

Controllers also maintain vital statistics on Punctuality performance of trains and keep watch over the detention of rolling stock at stations and terminals in order to ensure optimum utilization of rolling stock. Section Controllers are responsible for granting engineering blocks, power blocks etc., to facilitate infrastructural and safety works.