Tyer's Train Tablet

The train is a great way to travel in Sri Lanka.  It's cheap, easy, on time. And safe.  Partly because the Sri Lanka Railway Department uses the Tyer Tablet System.

According to the Railway Museum in Kadugannawa, and the Interweb....The 1st train, built by the British, ran in Sri Lanka in 1864.  Today, 324 trains move about 300,000 passengers daily between 320 stations on the island.  

Some parts of the rail system are very modern.  But some parts date back to ...pretty much the beginning.  

One of these old parts is the safety system that keeps trains from colliding head on, when there is only one track between stations.  The Tyer Tablets system. Edward Tyer invented it after a head-on collision killed 21 people in Thorpe St Andrew in England in 1874.

I've tried to fully understand the system.  Without success.  But basically....each station has hard disks called tablets, with the names of the two adjacent stations between which they're valid.  If a train has the tablet for a section of track, it's guaranteed exclusive use of that section of track. The system also includes some electrical signals between stations/morse code, cool wooden cases with drawers for the tablets, and little signs that say "Train Approaching", "Train on Line", or "Line Closed". 

Part of the safety system is employees walking the track to check and maintain it.  That was sooooo reassuring to know!  Because the train often runs close to the edge of very steep hills and soil erosion can be a problem. 

Pictures

1-  The station master is handing off the tablet to the train conductor, so the train can proceed onto the next section of track.  Before this happened, another staff on the train gave the tablet for the section of track that the train just passed on, back to staff at the station. It's all so very smooth as an operation!
2- The station masters office is always so neat and official looking.  The red boxes are the wooden cases that the tablets are kept in.  The rings on the wall to the right have a pouch for the tablets.
3-It is sooooo nice to have open windows and doors to enjoy the view and wind from the train!
4-These are our train tickets from Ella to Badulla.  20 Rupees (about 15 cents Canadian) for a 1 hour trip.  Second class.
5- Before the train leaves the station, a staff checks the platform to make sure no one is still trying to get on or off. If the way is clear, they wave a green flag for the conductor to see.
6- This man is selling wadai.  Delicious deep fried lentil and chili patties!
7- This man played tamborine and sang songs his mom, dad, kids for money. He kinda sounded like a country song singer.  I was waiting about a song about how his wife and dog done him no good!
8- Most/all stations have waiting rooms for ladies and gents.  Some have waiting rooms for foreigners!  They pretty much all look like this.  Pretty in a very old fashioned kinda run down way.
9- The train from the north to Ella was crazy full because it's very popular with tourists. But this one, on our way to Kalpitiya was empty so Toby had some fun!
10- The gates for the trains are usually manually operated.  This man's job is to open/close the gate at a crossing in Haputale, likely about 15 times per day.  He was happy to give us directions to the tea factory.