Rail Analysis India Dec Edition 2017 Digital Magazine | Page 42
Article | 41
42 | Article
Tech Talk held on ‘Building Digitized
Indian Railways’
Improving Rail Safety,
Efficiency and Passenger
Experience through the
Internet of Things
Image Credit: networkrail
Ms Beatrice Lippus
Associate Vice
President,
Transportation
The Internet of Things has evolved from a ground-breaking concept in TED
talks to a reality that is redefining the way we live, work and connect.
R
ail industry’s “raison d’être” are safety, reliability,
and efficiency – for which IoT outlines a paradigm
wherein systems are surrounded by “smart helpers”.
Smart railway networks leverage interconnected
technological solutions combined with modern infrastructure
such as automatic ticket systems, digital displays and smart
meters. These setups need seamless wireless connectivity
and integrated software solutions to meet the rising demand
for efficient, comfortable and safer services.
The specifics of railway industry being legacy heavy, project
driven and technology focused require an adaptation of
IoT compared to consumer world as an “Internet of Trains”.
Every year, almost 10.000 billion freight tonne kilometres and
3.000 billion passenger kilometres are travelled globally in
uncounted existing trains with a lifetime of several decades.
Apart from the commercially available IoT architecture,
bespoke data analytics and rail expertise are needed to
translate data into information, to build intelligence into the
system and to make decisions to improve reliability and safety.
One example of a rail-specific IoT implementation is a remote
train control solution to monitor critical systems, provide real-
time visualisation and data display at distributed locations. With
this, reactive and proactive alerts can be raised, maintenance
cost reduced significantly and operational efficiency improved
with increased on-time services. Additionally, the on-train
customer information system is updated real-time for
improved customer communication and experience.
While preventing accidents through IoT-based solutions
remains the key driver, other applications are also important
for increased acceptance and implementation in transportation
industry. For example, using IoT can ensure a significantly
increased reliability of elevators by focusing on predictive
maintenance solutions for their doors, which account for
more than 60% of their malfunctioning. This in return helps
enhancing the customer’s train journey experience right from
the start.
No single organisation can take the task of implementing IoT
into the railway industry alone, for example for legacy assets
vs. new trains. Strong global collaboration is needed to
combine railway domain knowledge, analytics and problem-
solving capabilities. IoT needs everybody to say “IoT - I’m on
the train” to ensure that the right solutions are implemented in
the respective context.
Shri John Thomas,
Additional General Manager,
South Central Railway
T
he Centre for Railway Information
Systems (CRIS) organized a Technical
Talk o
n ‘Building Digitized Indian
Railway- a sneak preview’ to find
solutions to build a Digitalized Railways
with the inputs of experiences and
knowledge of Railway personnel.
13th December, 2017 at Rail Nilayam Auditorium. Shri
John Thomas, Additional General Manager, South
Central Railway was the Chief Guest on this occasion.
Shri M. Ravi Babu, Regional General Manger, CRIS,
Secunderabad co-ordinated the program.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri John Thomas, Additional
General Manager opined that Railways need to develop
a foolproof system to predict unsafe incidents before it
actually happens with the help of advanced technology
and research studies. He said that technology prediction
with regard to asset failure is limited on Indian Railways
where as foreign railway systems have advanced
with continuous research and analysis. Simulation &
Optimization would help to improve maximum utilization
of assets he added. He appreciated the team from IIT
Bombay who has taken complex subject like traffic
bottlenecks on Indian Railways as their research subject.
Earlier, Shri M. Ravi Babu, Regional General Manger,
CRIS welcomed the gathering and explained the
genesis and journey of CRIS from standalone system to
huge gigantic network today which is handling 49 million
transactions per day. He also said that today CRIS
touches all the departments and provides in-house
e-solution for Indian Railways. Shri Ravi Babu stated
that CRIS is a non-profit organization which works
under Ministry of Railways and it taken up application
development, maintenance and runs mission critical
enterprise for Indian Railways.
Shri Narayan Rangaraj, Professor & Head of the
Department, Industrial Engineering and