Abstract
Theft of cables used for powering a locomotive not only stops the train from functioning but also paralyzes the signalling and monitoring system. This means that information on certain locomotives cannot be passed onto other locomotives which may use the same track at different times hence increasing the possibility of accidents which can be costly. We propose to design and implement a standalone wireless sensor system that can be used to monitor a locomotive and which runs on a separate platform than that used to actually operate the locomotive.