21 January, Minsk /Olga Belyavskaya - BELTA/. Belarusian Railway will implement new technologies this year to enhance train traffic safety, the BZhD press service informed BELTA. One of these projects will involve the use of electric interlocking devices employing microprocessor technologies. "In 2011, BZhD plans to commission an electric interlocking and blocking system on the Polotsk-Vitebsk section and at Novopolotsk station," the press service stated. The innovation is designed to manage train traffic safety. It is a multi-level automated system with functions for technical diagnostics, event archiving, and integration of dispatcher interlocking and automatic blocking. The application of such technologies contributes to improving the entire technological process of managing transportation and the operations of railway structural units, impacts the economic performance of all railway transport sectors, and, overall, the profitability of BZhD's operations, specialists explained. The production of the microprocessor electric interlocking system and modern power supply systems has been mastered at the Brest Electrotechnical Plant. "For the first time in Belarus, they were applied at Polotsk station, and in the future, BZhD plans to implement this system at all major stations, replacing the previously produced and outdated relay interlocking systems," the press service reported. In accordance with the State Program for the Development of Railway Transport of Belarus, in 2011, Belarusian Railway plans to electrify 359 points and equip 214 km of automatic blocking. -0-

BELTA