Railway vandalism: School develops technology to curtail attacks

In a bid to support the Nigerian rail transportation sector, the students of  Noble International Secondary School, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, have developed a technology that when deployed could alert officials of the railway corporation of any threat to the rail tracks.

The device named ‘Rail-Line Threat Detection System (RTDS) by SitoAbasi Akpabot and Freda Anoetie Akpaffiong, who are Senior Secondary School (SSS) 3 students of the Uyo Secondary School would save the Federal Government a lot of funds that usually go into rail tracks repairs due to vandalism.

Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja after the ‘Innovation and Technology Expo’ programme organised by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, SitoAbasi and Freda schools said the innovation was born out of concerns about the frequent rail line vandalism in the country.

According to them, “there has been rampant issue of rail line 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.

IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

• ‘Officials initially offered to help but when the number of able-bodied citizens at the centre increased, they left us unattended to’
• Why Ogun Tops List Of ‘Yahoo Boys’ In Nigeria ― Governor Abiodun
• Police, Amotekun after criminals on Lagos-Ibadan expressway
• Suspected cannibal pays N500,000 for boy’s human organs, says ‘that’s my favourite meal, especially the throat’
• Court awards Nnamdi Kanu N1 billion over invasion of his home by military, asks FG to apologise

Also speaking on the project, coordinator of the Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS) in the school, Adegboye Ayodeji Olaoluwa, explained that the system of the newly invented ‘Rail Line Threat Detector’ was wired in such a way that it could help stop the trend of rail tracks vandalism in Nigeria.

He said that “the only thing we have to do is to lay two wires across the rail tracks all through the country, with the two wires serving as communication wires. Therefore, whenever anyone tampers with the tracks, the resistance of the rail line will change.

“And when the resistance changes, there will be change in the output of the voltage on the 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,” Adegboye explained.