The efficient management of railway infrastructure is of utmost importance for Indian Railways (IR) which is grappling with ever-increasing traffic volumes. In the past few years, IR’s sole focus has been the installation of new equipment and deployment of new technologies. However, it faces a number of challenges in achieving optimal operational and maintenance standards. In this regard, asset management can help IR in addressing issues related to ageing assets and congestion due to limitations of low speeds and poor infrastructure. Asset management includes procurement planning, quality testing, inspection programmes, condition assessment, maintenance management, refurbishment and replacement of assets, and the adoption of life extension technologies.
Cognisant of the need for modern infrastructure facilities and improved service delivery, IR has turned to advanced technological solutions for efficient management of railway infrastructure. Over the past few years, IR has launched projects to deploy advanced technologies such as track management systems, project management and information systems (PMIS), bridge management systems, e-procurement systems, etc. The results of these initiatives have been quite encouraging.
Asset maintenance cycle and key IT systems deployed
IR’s assets can be categorised into vertical silos of tracks, signalling and telecommunications, electrical, locomotives and rolling stock. The maintenance of these assets is undertaken through inspection of the existing master database of tracks mechanically or by using automation techniques. A condition status of every component of the asset is prepared to check if the asset meets the stipulated benchmarks in terms of standards. Depending on this, an exception report or defect list is prepared depicting whether the asset needs corrective action or not.
Periodic assessment of these assets has been recommended through daily morning in-spections, visual inspection using trolleys and point asset inspection at the prescribed frequency. Apart from this, mechanical monitoring of assets is undertaken by track recording cars. Further, oscillations faced by passengers during the train journey are constantly monitored through oscillation monitoring systems.
IR has transferred the track data kept in over 100,000 registers to online systems, setting the stage for objective analysis, and need-based and predictive maintenance. The inside inspection of railway tracks is carried out by ultrasonic testing using ultrasonic flaw detection machines. The inspections carried out determine the track maintenance cycle of the assets that may be periodic, need-based or predictive. The type of assets determines the kind of maintenance they require.
Typically, IR carries out periodic and need-based maintenance of assets and infrastructure. The periodic track maintenance is carried out in the form of tamping, overhauling or deep screening. However, predictive maintenance requires extensive condition monitoring using IT-enabled decision support systems. For monitoring tracks, bridges, tunnels and railway land, a civil engineering portal has been developed by the national transporter. A web-enabled IT application for effective management of signalling systems has also been launched. PMIS, another IT application, has been deployed for online monitoring of all ongoing railway projects across the country covering the entire life cycle of complex projects.
In addition, various other applications have been developed for different behind-the-curtains processes such as a project sanctioning and monitoring system, a railroad crossings system, a freight operation and maintenance system, a control office application, an integrated coaching management system, a crew management system, an e-procurement system, etc. There are also applications for customer interface such as a passenger reservation system (PRS), a national train enquiry system and a freight customers’ interface. The PRS is the most widely used customer interface, with more than 1.5 million transactions per day.
Further, a web-based module has been developed for a land-based management system to digitalise IR’s land bank consisting of over 43,000 land plans. This has been integrated with the geographic information system (GIS) platform and uses satellite imagery for mapping railway land to monitor leasing and licensing activities.
Another web-based IT platform, the bridge management system (IR-BMS) has been developed to maintain data for about 150,000 bridges for effective inspection, maintenance and monitoring. IR also carries out GIS-based route mapping through drone surveys for inaccessible and difficult project locations. The GIS portal has also been linked with the asset management application for better results.
The IT and web-based systems developed by IR have resulted in a number of benefits including a centralised database, a one-stop solution for information, machine network-enabled data acquisition, traceability of inspections carried out, work process and quality information, and real-time visibility of performance. However, the biggest challenge faced by IR, like any other large organisation, while undertaking IT enablement of asset management is the management of change.
The way forward
Over the past few years, IR has accorded great importance to safety enhancement through track renewal, production of passenger-friendly coaches, automated signalling using train protection warning systems and access control to improve safety on high speed tracks. It is working towards developing higher HP locomotives, higher axle loads, high capacity wagons and lightweight coaches and high speed rail (HSR) projects such as the Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR project and is also introducing semi-high speed trains such as the Vande Bharat Express and the Gatimaan Express.
A number of information and communications technology applications have been launched with the objective of ensuring predictive and effective maintenance of assets. Besides maintenance, these IT projects are aimed at achieving higher average speeds, network decongestion and better asset utilisation. They will also result in better passenger safety through the elimination of all unmanned level crossings.
Going forward, with the planned expansion in the railway network, asset management will continue to be a key focus area. Moreover, new technologies will be designed to meet passenger expectations, in addition to streamlining IR’s operational performance.