Lahore Cantt Railway Station has been equipped with a computer based interlocking (CBI) signalling system, while Lahore Railway Station will also get the same system in the next couple of months, according to a Dawn report. The new system replaces the decades-old manual point system, known as the kanta, and is meant to ensure safe train operations. Railways (PR) Lahore Divisional Superintendent Inamullah Khan told Dawn that the replacement of the kanta system in Lahore division began at Shahdara Station, followed by other stations such as Raiwind and Okara Cantt. He said the installation at Cantt was a priority because of the complexity of the station’s yard, where many tracks and points make manual operation harder to manage safely.
CBI replaces conventional mechanical and relay-based signalling with computer-controlled technology that manages railway signals, track points, and train routes. Operators control signals and points through a computerised interface, and before a train is allowed to proceed, the system checks that the selected route is available, that the track points are in the right position, and that no conflicting train movements are set. If a fault occurs, the fail-safe design is intended to place signals in a restrictive state, which reduces the risk of accidents caused by conflicting routes or signalling failures. After installation, testing, and commissioning, the system was opened for trial operations at Cantt Station on 21 October, and various trains passed safely through it during the initial trials.
Khan described it as a fully automated system that sets the route, ensures safe train operations, and records all operational activities related to interlocking and operators. That record also lets Pakistan Railways check which operators are on duty and what they have done, which adds a layer of accountability that manual systems could not provide. An official of the CBI project told Dawn that the system has now been installed at all stations from Shahdara to Lahore, except Lahore’s main station and Khanewal Railway Station. Pakistan Railways has described the CBI rollout as part of wider efforts to modernise its signalling infrastructure and improve both train operations and safety, and the Lahore Railway Station installation is expected to follow in a couple of months.
The Lahore stations are part of a long-running resignalling programme on the Lodhran to Shahdara Bagh section of the Karachi to Lahore main line. The Islamic Development Bank agreed in 2009 to lend $140 million for CBI at 31 stations and an auto-block system on the 433-kilometre double-line section, and a consortium of Bombardier Transportation and China Railway Signal & Communication was later contracted for the work on the same CBI platform used on the Bin Qasim to Mirpur Mathelo section. The scale of the need is also clear from official figures, since a senior Pakistan Railways official told Wealth Pakistan, as reported by APP, that more than 80 percent of the current signalling system relies on mechanical and relay-based technology prone to theft, environmental damage, and operational failures.
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