Sunday, 24 January 2016
Sunday, 10 January 2016
Thursday, 7 January 2016
Railways offers 8000 Parcel Vans to Cargo Firms
Railways offers 8000 Parcel Vans to Cargo Firms
New Delhi: Rail Cargo Services is an easy to use services than trucks in long distances because, trains cost less fuel and can take lots of loading material with more efficiently than trucks. Generally rail cargo service is 10% more efficient than road. In view of the above, Indian Railways has offered to lease out 8,000 parcel vans to logistics and transport companies like Gati, TCI and APL Logistics.
At a meeting with transport industry representatives, the railways has suggested private companies to run special trains using the vans as it would give them guaranteed traffic.
“We pick up cargo from stations and carry in parcel vans attached with passenger trains depending upon availability. By leasing out parcel vans we will get assured revenue,” said a senior railways ministry official.
The official said many private sector logistics companies had taken permission from the railways but very few of them are running special trains. At present, only two special parcel trains are being run.
The railways, which earns most of its revenues from freight movement, is expected to miss its annual loading target. It has seen a decline in loading of commodities like cement, grain and containers in the first nine months of the current financial year. While increase in freight loading in case of coal, iron ore and fertilisers has been witnessed during this period it is lower than expectations.
The public transporter carried 816.52 million tonnes of freight during April-December of the current financial years against a target of about 1,180 million tonnes for the full year.
“In the January-March period, we generally see an increase in loading. We are hoping to do better than last year but may not reach the revised target. We will be closing the year with lower number as lower loading of commodities like iron ore and coal has hit us,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the railways has started meeting industry representatives seeking their suggestions ahead of the rail budget. After private container operators, automobile, fertiliser and logistics firms, it is expected to interact with cement, coal and other key industries.
Thursday, 31 December 2015
Drones to help Irish Railways spot Damage on Tracks
Drones to help Irish Railways spot Damage on Tracks
The company will go to the market in the new year seeking a ‘unmanned aerial vehicle’ (UAV) which is capable of taking high-definition images and provide a live video feed to operators.
The move comes after the company contracted an outside company to provide drone photography to assess flood levels around sections of track near Carrick-on-Shannon, which were closed for 16 days following Storm Desmond, and which were inaccessible by road and rail.
The drones will be used to conduct boundary and topographic surveys, structural inspections and monitoring and vegetation surveys. It will also allow for incident response and to track risks to the network from climate change.
“Our main climate change challenges are coastal erosion on the Wexford line and flood events throughout the network and their increasing prevalence,” a spokesman said. “We would have historically flown the Wexford line from time to time with aerial photography by helicopter, but drone technology is so much more affordable and useful. “We envisage greater effectiveness and flexibility in monitoring our infrastructure, and a lot of potential savings with the use of this technology.”
The rail network includes 2,400km of track and a wide range of infrastructure including bridges, viaducts, cuttings and embankments and coastal defences. The company will seek tenders in January to supply a multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and training for up to 10 staff. The drone must include a 30 mega-pixel camera capable of taking high-definition images and video.
What is a Drone?
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone and also referred by several other names is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. The flight of UAVs may be controlled either autonomously by onboard computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle.They are usually of two types; Multi Rotor (that can hover like a helicopter) or Fixed Wing (that fly like an aircraft). The image has some more details an specs of these drones.
What is the use of a drone?
Drones can carry payloads. The payload can be goods, cameras, sensors or any other instrument necessary, within the limits of weight, safety and other regulatory aspects. Data (images, sensor readings etc) that is collected by the drones, are sent to a cloud where they can be analyzed for actions, alerts or insights. Interesting use cases of drones are emerging in Agriculture, Retail and Insurance industries, but the potential for many more innovative uses is huge!!
- Do you know that drones were used in Alaska for oil spill clean-up after a pipeline break.
- Do you know that drone can collect water samples to detect oil leaks?
- Do you know that drones with advanced sensors and imaging capabilities are giving farmers new ways to increase agricultural yields and reduce crop damages.
These are some of the different types of payloads attached to UAVs.
- Multispectral Imaging
- LIDAR Imaging
- InfraRed Imaging
- Thermal Imaging
Unmanned inspection vehicles will increase safety and efficiency for the freight network
After years of accusations of foot-dragging on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) regulation, the Federal Aviation Administration has recently been speeding exemption approvals and announcing new regulatory programs. One beneficiary is BNSF Railway, which has gained approval for a pilot(less) program to use drones to inspect its far-flung network of rails. The inspections could help reduce derailments and other safety problems—and though BNSF isn’t saying so, lead to lower labor costs in the long run.
Rail safety is drawing new focus after May’s catastrophic Amtrak derailment. Though that accident’s immediate cause was excessive speed, the Federal Railroad Administration reports that nearly 500 derailments were caused by defective track in 2014, making up more than a third of total rail accidents. Those derailments caused 35 injuries and $94 million in damages last year. BNSF says its drones will allow for more frequent track inspections,which should reduce track-caused derailments.
The FAA has greenlit more than 400 so-called “333 exemptions” for limited drone operations since this February. But unlike most operators, BNSF will be testingUAV’s outside of direct visual contact with their operator,referred to as “beyond visual line of sight,” or BVLOS, operation. BVLOS operation is regarded as more risky by the FAA.
BNSF has earned this special right as part of the FAA’s Pathfinder program, an initiative to develop UAV regulation in collaboration with industry that was announced in May. CNN and the drone systems makerPrecisionHawk USA are the other two inaugural participants, and the FAA has invited applicants from other sectors.
The ability to fly drones long distances is crucial to BNSF’s goals for the program. The railway owns over 32,500 miles of rail line across the U.S., and says that every foot of trackis inspected in person twice a week. But some of that track is hundreds of miles from any major population center, increasing the expense and inconvenience of manned inspection. BNSF has emphasized that its drone program would allow for more frequent inspections, rather than replacing human crews.
A few technical obstacles do face the program. BNSFannounced that its initial UAV fleet will include AirRobotmodels AR180 and AR200, and 3DRobotics Spektres. Those three models are multi-rotor copters, which would be able to hover for closer inspection of areas of concern, but the range of rotor UAV’s is generally quite limited. The AR180, for instance, flies less than four miles on a charge.
The imaging payloads for these drones is also still a question mark. While visible-spectrum cameras could detect some obvious obstructions, some crucial railwayfaults are invisible to the naked eye. Inspection teams today use ultrasound equipment weighing up to hundreds of pounds—vastly more than even a large drone could tote.
According to University of Oklahoma-based UAV expert James Grimsley, one alternative is laser-based profiling, or LIDAR. The Canadiancompany Pavemetrics has shown its laser-based system can detect hairline cracks in rails and ties, and DARPA is developing a chip-based LIDAR that would be very lightweight.
BNSF representatives have emphasized that safety is the program’s only immediate goal. Though the Federal Railroad Administration reports that rail accident rates have fallen by 43 percent since 2000, freight derailments are still potentially catastrophic. The increasing presence of crude oil on the rails is a particular concern—two crude oil tankers have derailed in Philadelphia in the last two years, just around the corner from last month’s Amtrak crash.
Drones could also save lives even without inspecting track.Hundreds of people are killed every year while trespassing on railroad property—many times more than are killed while travelling on passenger rail. Aerial drones would be significantly more effective than landbound security forces in detecting trespassers.
But, despite BNSF’s public emphasis on safety, drone-based inspections also present a huge potential laborefficiency. The work is both remote and demanding, with the FRA’s description making sure to mention that inspectors may have to deal with “disagreeable insects, toxic vegetation, or poisonous snakes.”
Though injury and fatality rates for rail inspectors specifically are not tracked by the government, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that railroad workers as a whole suffer more than twice the national worker fatality rate, with more than ¼ of fatalities among pedestrian workers struck by trains. Those conditions help push private rail inspector salaries to a mean of more than $71,000 a year, according to the BLS. Equipping those inspectors with drones could eventually allow the same work to be done by far fewer people.
Monday, 28 December 2015
Capital’s Ring Railway
Capital’s Ring Railway is an ‘available resource with immense potential
New Delhi: The implementation of the odd-even scheme in the National Capital to control pollution demands a dramatic transformation in the public transport module. The already packed Metro trains and DTC buses are, in no uncertain terms, ill-equipped to meet the expected rise in the number of commuters. While the Kejriwal government has pledged to increase the frequency of Metro trains and has taken a number of initiatives to increase the number of buses during the trial period, majority of Capital dwellers are still sceptical about the relief that it may bring. The argument is simple:
If the government is compelling people (although for a good cause) to opt for public transport on alternate days, the public transport module in the Capital, first, must be accordingly equipped to meet the demand. On an optimistic note, however, Kejriwal and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu recently discussed the Ring Railway network and how it could be used to augment Delhi’s public transport system. Supporting the odd-even formula, the minister also formed a committee to suggest ways for increasing frequency of local trains on Ring Railway.
But only increasing the frequency of local trains on Ring Railway is a slap on the face of those who will be forced to leave their personal vehicles and travel in them! Ring Railway is a dwindling parallel universe and has completely failed to keep pace with the brave new world of Metro and the fast changing geographical structure of the National Capital.
That said, it is perhaps the greatest hope that the residents of Delhi can look forward to. Despite having suffered continuous neglect by both the Railways as well as the commuters, the Capital’s Ring Railway is an “available resource” that has immense pottential to divert pressure from the already crowded Metros and DTC buses.
For that to come true, both the Railways and Kejriwal government, first, need to address the issues that are gnawing at the very existence of Ring Railway and are preventing commuters from opting for it.
“Men smoke in trains and there’s nobody to stop them”
When I first rode the Ring Railway last year, I saw an assimilation of a hundred scenarios -figments of a Delhi one does not observe from the car and the expressions of men, women and children scrambling off the train in all possible fashion. But along with these also came sights of men smoking openly inside the trains, others gambling with ganja pots in their hands or goons hurling an array of slangs at each other loudly. There was nobody to stop them then and there’s perhaps nobody to put an end to their nonsense even now. It is as if the rules of public transport do not apply in this part of the world and you better deal with it or face their wrath. Spotting an RPF personnel is as rare as snowfall in Rajasthan. Dear Railway Minister, how about diverting some of your funds to these unsung platforms at a time when your government’s ambitious Bullet Train project is costing approximately Rs 1 lakh crore of the tax payer’s money?
“Toilets are far from platforms and home to rodents”
Prime Minister Modi may have evoked the sentiments of over a billion Indians by personally sweeping the road to encourage Swach Bharat Abhiyaan but the stations touched by the Ring Railway are far from clean. At Lajpat Nagar Railway Station of the Ring Railway network, it took me about half an hour to spot a toilet, which was lost in the vegetation that had grown all around and inside it. As if this was not enough, the station staff were bathing in the open from a black Sintex water tank on the platform. The toilets, if at all, in most of the stations of the network have faced the same fate due to continuous neglect for years.
“Where do we go after getting off the trains?”
One of the most important aspects of the Ring Railway network that requires immediate attention is the lack of feeder services. Several of these stations are located in secluded areas and one finds it difficult to find a bus, auto or even a rickshaw to reach one’s final destination. If Ring Railway network is really expected to share the load of commuters during the odd-even trial period and even thereafter, DTC and other concerned authorities must ensure that there are feeder bus services for the passengers, who get off at these stations. Auto and rickshaw stands nearby may draw passangers too.
“Trains are filthy and breeding ground for criminals”
Most of the trains plying on this network are dirty with garbage lying all around and nobody to clean them. If those travelling in their personal air-conditioned vehicles are expected to bopard these trains, cleanliness is perhaps the minimum to demand. Several of these trains are also breeding ground for criminals. Chain-snatching, eve-teasing and pick-pocketing are but common in these trains. Appointment of security personnel, both at the stations and inside the trains, may go a long way in drawing at least some fraction of the commuters.
“Ticket counters in name only, people live inside”
Robinson Robert, an old admirer of the Ring Railway, who organises regular heritage tours had earlier told The Statesman that when trying to find the ticket counter at the Chanakyapuri station, he was “shocked to find some people actually living inside”. Most of these stations have only one functional ticket counter and that too without any representative at most occasions. Think of the long queue of people waiting to buy tokens at the well-equipped Metro stations and then fancy the crowds that will follow at these “tiny” ticket windows, if at all commuters are to be diverted to the Ring Railway network.
“Stations in crime-prone zones and unsafe for women”
The location of some of these stations raise serious question on the safety of women as they are located in dark patches, where criminals walk freely at night. Stations like Inderpuri and Dayabasti are crime-prone. While the Railways may ensure the safety of passengers inside the train and the railway premises, how safe can our women feel while passing through dark patches in the sadly, “rape-capital” of the country?
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
IR signs MOU with 3 IITs
IR signs MOU with 3 IITs for setting up of Centres for Railway Research
In his address, Chairman Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital said that signing of the MOUs between Ministry of Railways and IITs at Kanpur, Madras & Roorkee for setting up of Centres for Railway Research is an important step. In order to achieve growth rate of 10% per annum in the coming years, it is necessary that railways make use of the technology advancements in the field of Railway related technology as this will be a major contributor in improving the quality of services. Government has laid high priority on giving boost to this vital sector as the Railways is considered engine of growth.
Speaking on the occasion, Member Staff Railway Board Shri Pradeep Kumar pointed out that subjects on railway technology do not figure in the curriculum of the academic institutions. The natural corollary has thus been the lack of experts on railway technology in the academia. In most of the Institutions, there are either no professors having expertise on the subject or wherever there are a few with some knowledge on rail technology, they are out of sync with the latest technology and development for obvious lack of practical exposure/contact. Moreover the major technological advances are coming from out of India. This initiative of the Indian Railways to involve these premier academic institutions by setting up Centres for Railway Research will remove this gap to some extent.
Union Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu addressing at the signing ceremony of Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) between Ministry of Railways and IIT/Kanpur, IIT/Roorkee and IIT/Madras for setting up Centres of Railway Research, in New Delhi on December 22, 2015. The Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha and the Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital are also seen.
New Delhi: It is well known that almost all rail operations in India are handled by the Ministry of Railways. The organization has its own facilities for production of locomotives and other rolling-stock besides a Research, Design and Standards organization to carry out research work in rail technology, standardization and application to attain self-sufficiency. Although Indian Railways has been continuously upgrading its technology but it has been primarily done through technology transfer from abroad.
The spirit of ‘Make in India’ is also the ripe time for new initiatives to build foundation for research in Indian Railways in collaboration with premier academic institutions. Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu had announced in his Budget speech on 26th February 2015, the setting up of four Centres for Railway Research in select Universities. The MOU with University of Mumbai has already been signed in April 2015. Today the MOUs were signed with Indian Institutes of Technology at Kanpur, Madras and Roorkee, for setting up the Centres of Railway Research, fulfilling the Budget commitment in presence of Minister for Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha.
Specific areas of research in railway technology have been assigned to the respective IITs, with provision to identify more areas in the future. Shri Manoj Pande (ED/T&MPP) signed the MOU on behalf of Ministry of Railways while signatories from other side included prof. Amalendu Chandra, Dean Research & Development IIT Kanpur, Prof. Krishnan Balasubramanian, Dean Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research, IIT Madras and Prof. Manoranjan Parida, Dean Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy, IIT Roorkee. Chairman Railway Board Shri A.K. Mital, Member Staff Shri Pradeep Kumar and other senior officers were present on this occasion.
The Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha witnessing the signing ceremony of Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) between Ministry of Railways and IIT/Kanpur, IIT/Roorkee and IIT/Madras for setting up Centres of Railway Research, in New Delhi on December 22, 2015. The Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital is also seen.
Speaking on the occasion Minister for Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu announced that with the signing of these MOUs, he is confident that these Centres for Railway Research would contribute immensely towards providing solutions for utilization of Railways’ assets in a more cost effective manner. The Government’s vision to see Indian Railways as one of the most progressive organizations in the world and also a net exporter of Railway technology to the world shall soon be realized. Shri Prabhu said that such partnership between railways and academic institutions will not only help railways and IITs but will also be helpful to the nation. He said it will also lead to spin off benefits to society. There is a need to implement new ideas on real time basis.
In his speech Minister of state for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha said that Indian Railways always believes in keeping itself abreast of latest technology. Referring to the problem of train movement during fog season specially in northern India, Shri Manoj Sinha called upon experts to work on a technique to find solution to this problem. He said that the technology to solve this problem should be practical and affordable.
In his address, Chairman Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital said that signing of the MOUs between Ministry of Railways and IITs at Kanpur, Madras & Roorkee for setting up of Centres for Railway Research is an important step. In order to achieve growth rate of 10% per annum in the coming years, it is necessary that railways make use of the technology advancements in the field of Railway related technology as this will be a major contributor in improving the quality of services. Government has laid high priority on giving boost to this vital sector as the Railways is considered engine of growth.
“There is one existing CRR in IIT Kharagpur. Now, there will be three more,” said Professor Krishnan Balasubramanian, dean, Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (IC&SR), IIT-Madras. The CRR, Chennai will develop technologies for the Railways in areas that it already boasts of having significant expertise.
According to Balasubramanian, the research would include but not be limited to broader areas like smart railway technologies, safety technologies and increasing communications capabilities. The CRR’s funds will be granted by the Indian Railways and according to the institute, there are 12 faculty members who have already written up projects for the Centre. “We hope to have 20 faculty members and 30-40 students working on projects for the Centre within two years,” said Balasubramanian.
Students can opt for UG, PG and PhD programmes to be offered under the centre which will involve projects and course electives related to railway technology. At the signing event, railway board member Pradeep Kumar said subjects on railway technology did not figure in curriculum of academic institutions leading a lack of experts on railway technology. “In most institutions, there are either no professors having expertise on the subject or wherever there are a few with some knowledge on rail technology, they are out of sync with the latest technology and development for obvious lack of practical exposure/contact,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Member Staff Railway Board Shri Pradeep Kumar pointed out that subjects on railway technology do not figure in the curriculum of the academic institutions. The natural corollary has thus been the lack of experts on railway technology in the academia. In most of the Institutions, there are either no professors having expertise on the subject or wherever there are a few with some knowledge on rail technology, they are out of sync with the latest technology and development for obvious lack of practical exposure/contact. Moreover the major technological advances are coming from out of India. This initiative of the Indian Railways to involve these premier academic institutions by setting up Centres for Railway Research will remove this gap to some extent.
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