Print

Comment

Email

Digg

Del.icio.us

Reddit

Twitter

Control office automation (COA) is one innovative project implemented by CRIS on behalf of the Indian Railways that has automated controlling of train movement. The online application is increasingly proving to be the backbone for both passenger and freight train movement.

The project was rolled out in 2004 and the pilot implementation of COA started around 2006, and gradually it was implemented across all sixty-seven divisions that operate under the Indian Railways. The full-fledged deployment of this integrated application was, however, completed in early 2009. Movement of trains are controlled at divisional level. Since movement of trains is dynamic in nature, the controller has to constantly plan the train movement. COA application helps the controller perform his job efficiently by providing strategic data and real-time information on individual trains running under his jurisdiction. This automation of the control office is a mission critical application that is deployed to effectively manage train operation. It offers crucial benefits like, reducing train delays, averting accidents, and increasing overall safety of trains, as well as improving train movement planning. Since running of trains changes every moment, short-term planning is very vital. COA helps to generate various vital information and graphical illustration on train running under each division as well as and neighboring divisions, that helps the controller to plan train movements in a far better and efficient manner.

Coach Tracker
ICMS is considered as a parallel application to the freight operation system. Hosted on a central server at CRIS, ICMS tracks the movement of the passenger trains, generates and provides all details regarding the passenger coaches.

The last few years have seen a substantial growth of traffic in the Indian Railways, as well as a growth in different types of coaches. The number has increased considerably and it was difficult for the railways to handle their usage. The need to computerize the entire coach information management system is to have the information on each coach readily available for optimum use and timely maintenance.

The ICMS will achieve the following objectives:

• Monitor punctuality of mail express/passenger trains
• Monitor status of coaching stock in real-time and online
• Facilitate augmentation of train composition on the basis of traffic demand to maximize revenue
• Facilitate planning and running of special trains
• Set benchmarks for assets maintenance
• Plan timely maintenance schedule including IOH/POH to minimize idling of coaches outside shop

ICMS comprises three modulescoaching operations information system (COIS), punctuality analysis & monitoring (PAM), and coaching maintenance module (CMM). Among them, COIS and PAM are operation management applications, whereas, CMM has been designed as part of the Indian Railways asset management application.

COIS has enabled coaching operation to be more effective and transparent in recent times. It tracks status and utilization of individual coaches run by the Indian Railways. It also helps produce accurate coach census whenever it is required. Implementation of COIS has offered many benefits to IR. Reporting on coaches has been bettered by up to 90% across all zones. It provides all details on the coaches, whether they are running in stable conditions and meets all functional end-use requirements. This prevents deployment of defective coaches.

PAM helps to provide region-wise, division-wise or even station-level analytical reports on the performance of train operations for a given period. Introduced in April 2008, PAM successfully generates consistent and accurate information that has given the much required reliability and transparency in the train running system.

Infosys has bagged CMM, a module of Integrated Coaching Management System (ICMS). It will be a pilot project which covers complete customization and development of centralized enterprise asset management/ maintenance, repair and overhaul based application package for maintenance of coaches at coaching depots and its implementation at three depotsMumbai of Western Railway, New Delhi of Northern Railways, and Lucknow of Northern Railway. It also aims to provide a portal based custom built application module for providing specified functionalities to users outside depot.

The CMM for ICMS will be rolled out in fourteen months in all the three depots. The CMM system is intended to support maintenance departments in doing their work more effectively and to help the management make informed decisions. The benefits expected are collation of information from various sources, leading to better utilization of assets and management of failures.

Managing Crew
CMS manages the crew, drivers and guards, and keeps all their information. CMS has helped towards commissioning proper duty assignment system by effective management of the crew including drivers and guards by keeping an updated information on individual basis. It has features like SMS facility for crew booking, alerts for crew shortages, positions of crew among others. The application also offers breath analyzer interface as well as bio-metric sign-on and sign-off facilities. The application has helped the Indian Railways to established a much disciplined crew management system in place as well as facilitate work-life balance for the crew.

All these projects implemented so far have systematized entire operation of the Indian Railways and brought transparency in the system, resulting in increased efficiency and productivity. The journey towards IT adoption has been commendable so far despite periodical hiccups. However, the journey is not even reached half way as there is a lot that remains to be delivered. One of the typical problem faced by the railways today is higher downtime, hence creating major obstacle for smooth running of applications. Safety still remains a major issue with railways in spite of the fact that technology has been a major tool to enhance passenger safety and reduce number of accidents. Both the automobile and aviation industries in India have successfully achieved this by using technology. Therefore, a lot has to be done by the Indian Railways to leverage modern technology and upgrade its operation and services to match global standards.

Piyali Guha
piyalig@cybermedia.co.in

Page(s)   1