Indian Railways Management Information System (IRMIS)
For successful management every organization needs the internal flow of information, which demands many resources. This continuous supply of data can be achieved through the computer networking technology that is already available. GIS will provide the perfect platform for integration of geographical locations and the information as attributes so as to make it geo-referenced information. With the help of GIS, IRMIS should significantly increase the efficiency and competitive advantages of the huge railway network of India. Data can be collected only once for all purposes and can be updated regularly whenever any change occurs. As the railway system is a group of various disciplines so for proper and efficient functioning of the system, cooperation of many different experts will be required.
IRMIS will provide the ability for the whole unit to analyse and realise any problem or take any decision in a shorter period of time, considering different parameters at the same time, making decision support system more efficient and time & cost effective. Because of the safety the railway parameters must satisfy certain standards. Therefore, the aim of suggesting the formation of IRMIS is to achieve correct data processing about the state of railway infrastructure as the basis for planning, projecting and maintaining the railway lines along with handling emergencies. At the same time it ensures on-line access to data and information for users. It enables several kinds of analyses as support to decisional and planning functions, which depends on knowing the area location, content, technical state of rail elements, geographical conditions and administrative rules. Simplified visual display of complex networks, without loss of feature attribute or integrity, and the ability to perform geographic analysis is what GIS can provide the maintenance officials.
Since railway database is divided into civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and signal & telecommunication, every part has its characteristics and specifics making it of utmost importance that expert from all the fields work together. GIS gives opportunity to do just the same - sitting in different parts of the city/country they can access the same database at the same time to discuss various related matters.
The way maps and other data can be stored or filed as layers of information in a GIS environment, makes it possible to perform complex analyses too. So far the raw data is maintained manually in the form of variety of tables and reports defining the status of the assets and whenever need arises the data is made available for that particular section (so many kilometers). IRMIS can easily be made to classify all the data in the predetermined format for each parameter and the results can be displayed graphically. In case of disruption of traffic, IRMIS can also be used for identifying the location and for taking corrective action for flow of traffic through alternative paths. Therefore, IRMIS will have the railway working improved tremendously by
- Enabling identification of the 'traffic disruption location' by relating to geographic attributes;
- Reducing Mean Time To Repair (MTTR);
- Optimally utilizing the assets;
- Improved planning and decision-making for asset replacement and creation;
- Emergency handling
i.e., to maintain contingency plans to cope with
various types of emergency from mechanical
failure to terrorist attack. Up-to date data and
rapidly accessible map based records can be made
available through GIS the effectiveness of
alternative plans can be modeled, and as the
sophistication of GIS increases, plans can be
put into effect through GIS.
The data by location can be transferred to the railway's network called 'Railnet', which is entered into the system through digitization of topographical maps of appropriate scale. Since, it takes time to put-in the entire information into the database, a group of technicians must be establish that will take care of the technical database unity, collecting data at the central point and for upgrading the system. All the decision makers and other users would have access to computer graphic workstations connected to computer network of the system. Digital photographs can be included to enhance the user's visualization of the track.
GPS Technology and IRMIS
IRMIS should be user friendly so it can easily be used even by the people who are not well versed with computers, as, high order of computer literacy is not expected among the IR employees. Integration of GPS (Global Positioning System) and GIS technologies (Southby, 1994) could be introduced so as to combine the track geographical location with the attribute data to increase the reliability of the database in geographical sense. Correct location of each point is of utmost importance in railways as the safely of people is at stake. Also, correct location is of utmost importance so as to provide information regarding freight movement to the consumers. Alternatively, we can identify fixed locations at suitable intervals to feed the rolling stock movement data. The data along with geographical location will then be analysed and presented to the concerned persons. The recorded track database can also be used by the maintenance officials for prediction and planning of maintenance requirements and associated budgets. With time the length of recorded IRMIS database will increase and will provide the experts the invaluable information on trends that might exist in many forms. This will also help analyze if any particular section is deteriorating and requires repairs. The decision making would not be handicapped anymore with a reliable, consistent and user friendly computer based information system.
Concluding Remarks
For survival in this constantly changing world every service provider must be updated and should use all the available resources optimally. IRMIS will combine technological abilities of information technology and the new discoveries in the field of planning and maintaining the railways to enable the maintenance of railway infrastructure in highest quality. This will also enable optimal planning which will lead to productive investments and new construction in railways. The concept also gives the ability to upgrade the contents as well as the information equipment. Through GIS and through the experiences of other working railways in the world we can plan and maintain our railways so as to substantially benefit financially too. Queries such as the shortest distance between points to the analytical portion of the software, which then absorbs this information and proceeds independently to the geo-database will be possible in the future stages of IRMIS.
References
- http://www.elroi.com
- http://www.esri.com
- hby L.J. and Judd A.M., Inegrating GPS and GIS technologies for effective management of railways, EGIS, 1994.
- m J., Track: transport, logistics planning, Proceedings of ESRI user conference, 1997.
- rstanding GIS, Environmental System Research Institute, Redlands, 1990.
- waldorf S.P., Schematic navigational map design, University of Kansas Masters Dissertation, Lawrence, Kansas, USA, 1979.
- Indian Railway Year
Book 1998 -99