Abstract
The Geographical Information System (GIS) is a complete system capable of assembling, storing, manipulating, and displaying geographically referenced information, i.e., data identified according to their locations. In GIS environment, right from the first step of digitization of relevant network, diagrams, maps and data entry to attributes attached with each important location can be created and made available instantly whenever and wherever required. The system can be ideally used by the transportation network organizations like Indian Railway, which have assets distributed all over. Such system, which will be an aid to the management, has been named as Indian Railway's Management Information System (IRMIS). This paper discusses the possibility of using GIS to create IRMIS with reference to Signalling and Telecommunication (S&T) department of Indian Railways. The system will store relevant information pertaining to all the assets, for example, in the case of underground cable, it will include the details like cable route plan, i.e., the location of the cable with respect to track and the depth at which it is laid, number of cables, number of cores in each cable, cores used and spares, cable termination details with location etc. This information, once stored, can be accessed by the maintainers, engineers, managers and planners from anywhere in the country.
Introduction
Railways around the world find great utility in using GIS to manage key information for rail operations and maintenance, asset management, and decision support systems. The list of 'what GIS can do' is very long and includes the management of track, power and signalling & communications assets, asset tracking, real estate management, marketing and site selection, commodity flow analysis, emergency response management, passenger information, capacity planning and risk management (www.esri.com).
Railway network, which is a functional network, can be defined as a set of interlinked paths in geographical space through which tangible objects can flow (Elroi, 1998). The users have very little control over their passage through the networks between nodes (Waldorf, 1979). Accurate geographical locations are important in a GIS so as to make it capable of assisting in transportation network planning, scheduling, dispatching, case and load tracking, resource allocation, and emergency preparedness, to name the few. As more people realize the potential of GIS for continuous interaction between the user, the graphic environment, the database and the algorithms, it is predicted that more network applications will utilize GIS and the user will execute more sessions involving interaction with the graphic display in order to reach decisions. The vast amount of data that can be associated with networks in GIS is invaluable for analysis and interpretation and many a times provide the solution that has until now not thought of.
Indian Railway Network
Indian Railway (IR) network consists of 62,809 route-km of rail track spread over entire length and breadth of the country. There are 6,896 stations distributed over its network. IR employs 1.578 million people and runs 12,000 trains everyday, carrying 4,411 million passengers / year & 441 million tones / year of originating freight traffic. IR's rolling stock asset includes 7,206 locomotives, 35,650 passenger coaches and 253,186 wagons. The fixed assets consist of over 108,413 track-km, 6,896 S&T installations on stations, 14,579 route-km of 'Over Head Equipment' (OHE) on electrified sections, numerous depots for maintenance of rolling stock like carriage and wagon depot, loco-sheds etc.
IR has three-tier organization structure;
- Divisions - dealing with day to day operations,
- Zonal Railways - to coordinate inter divisional operations, monitor the functioning of divisions and
- Railway Board - for
formulating policy and coordinating inter
Railway operations.
The information regarding fixed assets is kept at divisional level and rolling stock at zonal level. The data regarding the type of asset, its age and condition are maintained manually at divisional and/or zonal level. No fixed format is followed for keeping this data. Due to IR's vast geographically distributed assets and the fact that the data regarding the asset is maintained manually, it is very difficult for the management to get updated information about the assets, whenever required. Availability of accurate and updated information through GIS based IRMIS, will help in fast decision-making for planning the up-gradation and creation of assets including the budgeting side of it. The emergencies arising out of disruption of traffic either due to natural calamities such as floods and earthquakes or due to unfortunate train accidents can be managed more efficiently if correct information regarding the location of disruption point, alternative paths, availability of material for relief and restoration and much more is available and accessible, on-line, to the management.
Signalling And Telecommunication Assets
Signals on a station are provided to regulate the movement of trains at the station section because at the station section it is possible for trains to take alternate paths. A clear signal indicates to the driver that the route is clear and the train can negotiate the path safely. The communication is provided between section controller and Station Master so as to facilitate controlling of the trains in the section. While the type of signalling has to be identical in a section, the S&T equipment may be different, which depends on yard layout of the station. The yard layout in turns depends on the traffic requirement at that station.
Typically, S&T equipment at a station are signals, lever frames, location boxes, relays, power supply equipment, cables, control phones etc. Keeping the details of the assets and making it available is of paramount importance for i) maintenance; ii) fault rectification; iii) restoration in case of damage to the S&T equipment due to thefts, accidents etc; iv) planning for modification in yard; and iv) replacement of assets.
An example of a cable defect is discussed here - if a fault occurs in the cable, due to defect or damage caused to the cable by any external factors like theft, accidents, construction team working etc the information regarding cable route plan, total number of cables between the two locations where the fault lies and spare cores in the cables is required for quick restoration. The cables are buried underground and if the information is not readily available with the local maintenance staff, the restoration is done by unrolling a new piece of cable on the ground between the two nearest locations. Depending upon the nature of damage and availability of cable at the nearby stations, the restoration process takes anything between couple of hours to 8 - 10 hours. If the information is available regarding the spares cores, all that maintainer has to do is to change the connections at the nearest termination points and restore the circuits taking less than an hour. Similarly, while planning for yard modification, the requirement of putting new cables can be reduced if the information of spare cores in the cables is available to the planners. While deciding for replacement of the underground cable on age-cum-condition basis, macro view needs to be taken by the management. However due to lack of information, decisions are not based on macro level approach but taken on individual case to case basis. Such discrepancies can be avoided by keeping this information on IRMIS, which can store the relevant information and make it available to concerned officials making optimum utilisation of assets and correct investment decisions.