Kasim Sumaina in Abuja
In a bid to curtail threat to moving trains across the country and following recent deadly terrorists attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train, students of the Noble International Secondary School, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, have developed a technology that when deployed, could alert officials of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) of any threat to rail tracks in the country.
The Rail line Threat Detection System (RTDS) as fondly called by Sito Abasi Akpabot and Freda Anoetie Akpaffiong, Senior School 3 students of the Uyo Secondary School, would save the federal government a lot of money usually for rail tracks repairs due to vandalism.
Speaking to THISDAY in Abuja after the Innovation and Technology Expo organised by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Sito Abasi and Freda said the innovation was borne out of their concern for the frequent rate of rail line vandalism in the country.
“There has been rampant issue of rail track vandalism, and the country is spending a lot of money to repair these damages. So, in order to reduce the cost of repairs for our government, we have developed this technology.The technology, when in use, would keep the rail transportation system on the path of sustainable economic growth,” they said.
They noted that the innovation would also increase the confidence of passengers concerning the safety of the moving train.
Also speaking on the project, the Coordinator of the Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS), Adegboye Olaoluwa Ayodeji, explained that the system of the rail line threat detector is wired in such a manner that it can help stop the trend of rail tracks vandalism in Nigeria.
According to Ayodeji, “These children use a very simple theory in physics which is the theory of voltage divider, when you have parallel connection of resistors in series with nominal resistors, there is a way voltage is divided across such connection, and that is what has been used in developing this technology.”
“The project is very visible; the major component of the technology is the rail line itself, because the rail lines are made of rolling steels, the resistant per kilometer of the rolling steels is about 0.3 ounce, so these rolling steels are what we use in place of the resistors.”
Ayodeji further explained that the rolling steels are connected in parallel that any time there is a short circuit or an open circuit, they will be change in the output of the voltage and connection
He stated: “The only thing we have to do is lay two wires across the rail tracks all through the country, the two wires will serve as communication wires. Anytime someone tempers with the tracks, the resistance of the rail line will change.
“And when the resistance changes, there will be change in output of the voltage on our system, this change in output of the voltage will trigger an alarm which will alert officials that there is a problem somewhere and when they look at the monitor screen, they will see the exact location of the affected rail track.”
