IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Proceedings and Recommendations
of
IETE APEX FORUM
on
MONITORING & CONTROL SYSTEMS
FOR SAFER RAIL TRANSPORT
held on
September 12, 2015
at
IETE Allahabad Centre
Organised by
THE INSTITUTION OF ELECTRONICS AND
TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERS
1
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Contents
1. Introduction
¾ About IETE ............................................................... 1
¾ IETE Apex Forums .................................................... 1-2
¾ Objectives of the Apex Forum on Monitoring &
Control Systems for Safer Rail Transport .................. 3
¾ Background Paper ...................................................... 4-6
2. Proceedings of the Forum
¾Welcome Address by Chairman SD&ICC ………… 7-11
¾ Welcome Address by President IETE....................... 12-14
¾ List of Speakers …………….................................... 14-15
¾ Synopsis ................................................................... 15-18
¾ Conclusion.…………………………........................ 18-20
3. Appendices
A. List of Participants.………………........................... 21-22
B. Photographs .............................................................. 23-27
C. IETE in Press ............................................................ 28
2
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 1. Introduction
About IETE
Founded in the year 1953 by a team of dedicated professionals, the
Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) is
a leading non-profit professional society devoted to the advancement of
Science and Technology of Electronics, Telecommunications and
Information Technology. It serves more than one lac and twenty-five
thousand members through 64 Centres, spread across the country
including one at Nepal. The Institution provides leadership in scientific
and technical areas of direct relevance to the national development and
its economy. The Government of India has recognised IETE as a
Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (SIRO) and also
notified it as an educational Institution of national eminence. The
objectives of IETE focus on advancing electro-technology. The IETE
conducts and sponsors technical meetings, conferences, symposia and
organises exhibitions all over India. IETE Apex forum is one such
event that promotes issues of national interest through a common
platform. IETE also publishes technical journals and provides
continuing education to working professionals as well as career
advancement opportunities to its members.
IETE Apex Forums
One of the objectives of the IETE Apex Forums is to bring policy
makers, policy implementers, academicians, researchers, practicing
engineers and industrialists on a common platform for meaningful
exchange of ideas and suggestions on the current specific issues of
national interest. Meaningful debates and discussions are held, views
are exchanged to achieve the aim of the forum. The recommendations
/outcomes resulting out of the forum are actively pursued for
advancement of the profession. This Forum addresses important issues
with the participation from Govt Departments also like Deity, DST,
DoT and leading academic institutions.
3
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 The following are some of the Round Table Conferences under the
Apex Forum held in the recent past.
• “Internet Governance” organized on 24 Jul 2015 at IETE, New
Delhi.
• “Smart Cities” organized on 26 Jul 2014 at India International
Centre, New Delhi
• "Geo Spatial Technologies" was organized on 24 May 2014 at
Hyderabad Centre at the Mekaster Auditorium of the Institution.
• "Vocation and Skill Development Perspective-Current
Scenario" held on 28 Feb 2014 at IETE HQ, New Delhi.
• “DRM Technology” held at IETE HQ on 6 May 2013
• “Road Ahead for LTE in India- Opportunities and Challenges”
was held on 11 Sep 2012 at Hyderabad.
• The Cloud Computing in India – The Road Ahead” was held on 3
Jul 2012 at IETE HQ, New Delhi.
• “e-Education Paradigms-Indian Scenario & Challenges” held
on 23 Dec 2011 at IETE HQ, New Delhi.
4
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Objectives of the Apex Forum on Monitoring & Control
Systems for Safer Rail Transport
The objective of this IETE Apex Forum on “Monitoring &
Control Systems for Safer Rail Transport” was to deliberate on the
following issues:
¾ To have a brain storming session on the trans-disciplinary area of
electronics and control systems for identifying the priority areas of
its application in Indian Railways.
¾ To have the views and the specific recommendations from various
stake–holders connected with the railways in terms of requirement,
delivery and the training skill-development activities.
¾ To prioritize a few areas in electronics & control systems of
relevance to railways such as signalling, electrification and ICT
applications to frame up training modules.
¾ To frame out the partners for composing and running the skill
development course initially at Allahabad and for subsequent
replication at other IETE Centres.
¾ To consolidate the draft document focussing on technological areas
and the human resource developments for considerations by the
competent authorities in Indian Railways.
5
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Background Paper
IETE Apex Forum
Sept 12, 2015 at IETE Allahabad Centre
“Monitoring & Control Systems For Safer Rail Transport”
12th Sept 2015
Preamble:
Railways are the backbone of mass transport system in India carrying maximum number of
passengers daily through a vast network of rail track and a huge fleet of coaches and
trains. The numbers of trains are ever increasing to cover more and more stations to meet
the demands. The high speed trains with modern coaches fitted with more comforts for
safer journey has always been a matter of concern to the railway authorities. Various
modernization plans are announced every year and more financial outlays are earmarked
for research, development and training. A railway, infact is a true amalgamation of
various engineering faculties for any feasible implementation for its effective movement
on the rails. Ranging from civil engineering, engine technology, structures of track layouts
even on rough terrains, mechanical engineering, coach design, high power high voltage
engineering, signalling & control and what not. This needs a tremendous harmony and
synchronization particularly when inter- disciplinary areas do come in to picture at the
time of system engineering and integration. Since the subject is too vast any team has to
pick and focus only the select area of relevance for innovative solutions towards safer rail
traction mechanism.
IETE, a society established in the year 1953 by a team of dedicated professionals of
electronics & telecommunications engineers to provide a platform for advancement of
learning, knowledge sharing, organizing seminars, workshops, special lectures, meetings,
apex forums, etc. on current as well as emerging areas in this field. Currently it serves
about 1.25 lacs members through its 64 different centres spread across the country. The
Institution provides leadership in scientific and technical areas of national relevance and
duly recognized by DST, Govt of India as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
(SIRO).
One of the key activities of IETE has been in organizing Apex Forum on emerging areas of
national relevance where experts from different sectors like research & development,
academic institutions, policy makers, domain specific experts, etc. meet at a common
platform for deliberations and exchange of ideas and to suggest future course of action. It
also facilitates to formulate some implementation methodology where co-ordinated
efforts towards the advancement of knowledge, training programmes, workshops, etc.
could be synergized for mutual benefits.
6
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 The spectrum of development activities of Indian Railway is truly very vast and cannot be
covered in a single meeting. So, the today’s Apex Forum focuses on Measurement and
Control Systems Aspects covering sensors/transducers, measurement technique,
instrumentation and control, electrical and electronics engineering keeping in view the
safety and reliability aspects towards its modernization. In fact electronics,
telecommunications and information technology has paved its ways in almost every area
of engineering and can facilitate in providing innovative solutions in this direction.
There are several areas where research and development needs to be carried out
including the human resource development at the grass root level for handling modern
gadgets and tools. Some of the broad areas which may be of direct relevance for
deliberations by the expert panellists include: Fast switching and signalling systems,
power electronics, high voltage systems, solid state ac drives, brushless motors,
prevention of accidents due to various reasons such as unmanned level crossing, health
monitoring of tracks, bearings, hot axle box, cracks in bridges, early warning of natural
disasters like landslides (Konkan, Katra regions), sand storms, post-flood configuration
(remote sensing for damage assessment).
Advanced research areas include: noise level reduction in cabs of locomotives, noise
spectrum analysis, all weather traction (fog vision system), coach inspection systems
based on high speed electronic imaging, gas turbine locomotives, windscreen display
systems, waste management, advanced communication systems, GPS technology
implementation and many more. The Apex Forum planned for September 12, 2015 at IETE
Allahabad Centre at J K Institute of Applied Physics & Technology, University of Allahabad
has many distinguished invitees; to name a few Er. Mahesh Mangal, General Manager,
Central Organisation for Railways Electrification (CORE), Chief Guest, Er. Arun Saksena,
General Manager North Central Railway, Guest of Honour; Er. D. N. Tiwari, Executive
Director, Telecom–RDSO, Prof K. K. Bhutani, Director, UPTECH, Prof U. S. Tiwari, Dean
IRP, IIIT-, Dr G S Darbari, Chairman, Darbari Industries, Mr. Manish Vig, Director, Chandra
Metals. Team IETE include: Madam Smriti Dagur, President, IETE. Prof Pawan Kapur,
Chairman Skill Development & Industrial Co-ordination Committee & Member Governing
Council, IETE, Prof M P Singh, Chairman, Dr. Ashish Khare, Hony Secretary, Executive
Committee members & Fellow members of IETE-Allahabad Centre.
It is expected that detailed deliberations would be held on various aspects on monitoring
& control systems with a view to come out with ideas and suggestions for innovative
solutions in enhancing the performance and safety of rail transport. These discussions
shall lead towards prioritizing some of the areas where the expertise available at
different institutions and the domain expert’s knowledge can be synergised for coordinated work.
Training and Skill development is an important area where every organisation is working
towards freezing training modules. Course contents and structure of training programmes,
pooling the experts together to conduct such activities for human resource development
both at the grass root level and at the supervisory level. As per common saying
7
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 “Technology Feeds on itself- Technology generates more Technology”; so following this
philosophy, every upcoming technology, or a new product needs trained manpower at all
levels be it production or operation & maintenance. It is also expected that something
will also come out of long interactions on some areas where training modules can be
developed. IETE has given special emphasis on this aspect in planning and execution of
skill development programmes jointly with TSSC (Telecom Skill Sector Council), ESSC
(Electronic Skill Sector Council), NIELIT (National Institute of Electronics & Information
Technology), DeitY (Department of Electronics & Information Technology) on Electronic
Systems Design & Manufacturing), etc. IETE is also keen to extend its activities/further in
other application domain areas too.
It is certain that the Apex Forum of the Day will give each one participating in this
program a food for thought for joint work on a win-win situation.
IETE – Allahabad Centre
September, 12, 2015.
Prof (Dr) Pawan Kapur
Chairman, SD&ICC
Member, Governing Council
IETE, New Delhi
8
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 2. Proceedings of the Forum
The Apex Forum on Monitoring & Control Systems for Safer Rail
Transport was held at IETE Allahabad Centre on the 12th Sept 2015 (1630
hrs to 1930 hrs). Er Arun Saksena, General Manager, North Central
Railway, was the Chief Guest on the occasion, while Dr Pawan Kapur,
Chairman of Skill Development & Industrial Coordination Committee
(SD&ICC), co-ordinated the proceedings of the day. Shri Mahesh Mangal,
GM, CORE, who was supposed to be one of the dignitaries to grace this
occasion, could not come due to some urgent commitment. Smt Smriti
Dagur, President IETE presided over the forum. Shri M K Sigh, Chairman
IETE Allahabad Centre & Dr Ashish Khare were also present on the dais.
Welcome Address by Dr Pawan Kapur, Chairman SD&ICC on
the occasion of IETE Apex Forum on “Monitoring & Control
Systems for Safer Rail Transport”
Good Morning.
On behalf of IETE fraternity and on my own behalf, I extend a very warm
welcome to you all in this Apex Forum on an important subject on
“Engineering intervention towards safer rail transport”. We are grateful to
Er Arun Saksena, General Manager, North Central Railway, Allahabad,
who accepted our invitation and to be the Chief Guest on this occasion. I
also extend a warm welcome to Madam Smriti Dagur, President IETE who
has steered this institution of electronics professionals so well in pursuing
academic and training activities on various fronts. I welcome all the
distinguished speakers of today’s function.
IETE, a professional body of electronics and telecommunication engineers,
has over 1.25 lacs members with 64 Centres spread all across the country
which organize various technical events like workshops, conferences,
symposiums, special training programmes, etc throughout the year. Apex
Forums are special meetings where domain specialists meet at a common
platform to deliberate on key technological aspects of national relevance
9
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 influencing our society as a whole. Experts from research & development
organizations, industry, academia, and user departments share their
experiences, ideas and opinions on the theme with an objective to frame-up
priority areas, where co-ordinated work can be taken up by all the
concerned stakeholders.
Electronics and its derivative fields such as control systems, measurements
and instrumentation, communications, computer science and information
technology have all paved its ways in almost every application area of the
society. The key sectors being: agriculture, health, civil structure, energy,
manufacturing, transport and what not. Rail transport has been the most
convenient means for a common man providing a vast network of
connectivity all across the country with world’s largest traction length,
highest numbers of passengers and equally the largest number of trains
operating daily. Over the last several decades, it has made a phenomenon
growth in meeting the ever-increasing demands of the commuters. More
trains and wagons to accommodate more traffic density has always been a
matter of great concern to the Indian Railways and its associated ancillary
industries. There are several bodies looking after different aspects like
production of quality wagons/ coaches, laying of tracks, high horse power
high speed locos, faster communication systems, control systems, foolproof signalling, managing tracks, bridges, electrical systems and what not.
In fact, railway is an excellent example of encompassing almost every
branch of engineering making it truly a multifacet and a multi-disciplinary
area. Several R&D organisations and academic institutions too are
participating in executing innovative tasks for its continuous modernisation
towards safer and high speed transportation. Today’s Apex Forum planned
and being conducted at IETE Allahabad Centre focuses on this particular
application domain with a special emphasis on “Monitoring & Control
Systems for Safer Rail Transport”.
The spectrum of technological challenges faced by the Indian Railways is
truly very vast and cannot be covered in a single Apex Forum. We have
therefore narrowed down our today’s brain storming sessions on a focal
theme on “Measurement and Control System aspects covering Sensors/
Transducers Measurements, Materials, Instrumentation and Control
Systems, Signalling, etc. One is always concerned about safety aspects-at
one end while increasing the traction facilities with higher traffic density
and more comforts on the other end. In other words the challenges lie in
10
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 how to achieve “More from Less for More”. The panellists joining the
discussions today are the specialists pooled from various fields and
pursuing activities in different areas but are connected directly or indirectly
with today’s subject. Our speakers today represent various wings of
railways, namely, Research, Design Standards, Industrial Production and
Suppliers, Academic Institutions. Overseas experts on this subject who are
going to share their views on this special Apex Forum. I have been
connected with both the sides-that is R&D and IETE fraternity and have a
deep interest and involvement in such events and would like to highlight
some of the challenging areas of interest to Indian Railways in my own
perspective.
¾ Development of reliable early warning system of train approaching
for prevention of accidents at unmanned level crossing.
¾ There are 15000 critical locations with 50% of total level crossing
being unmanned therefore require low power solar cell based gadgets
to operate under remote locations conditions.
¾ Noise Level Reduction in cabs of high horse power diesel
locomotives to reduce driver’s fatigue. Inverse Spectrum Noise
Cancellation Techniques is one of the state- of-the-art technology that
can reduce this noise level for safe long drive runs.
¾ Reliable Technological Solutions to detect rail weld failure. Areas of
interest include: structural fault detection, fibre optic sensor networks
(FBG/LPG) backed up with early warning system for crack detection.
This will replace the existing ultra-sonic/visual fault detection
systems.
¾ All Weather Train Traction System (Foggy Weather)
• Fog Vision System to be developed to avoid collision/ trespassers
/ animals.
• Natural disasters monitoring like landslides particularly in
Konkan and Katara region railways.
¾ Head Up Display on windscreen of engine for total information (like
in case of aircrafts advanced automobiles)
¾ Efficient Turnaround time Coach Inspection Systems.
• Presently manual inspection systems under rest at yards/ stations
are available so no prior detection is feasible. High Speed
Camera Based Vehicle Inspection System need to be developed.
Machine based Inspection System under moving conditions can
11
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 help to send prior information to the approaching maintenance
stations.
¾ High speed high quality image acquisition, processing and
compression for automatic defect detection algorithms based on
structural signatures analysis is the current area of research.
¾ On-board and way-side Health Monitoring for predictive
maintenance of rolling stock to avoid human judgement.
• Acoustic Bearing Detector.
• Hot spot detection on Bearings using hand-held IR temperature
probe & transmission system.
¾ Hot- Axle Box Detector.
• Machine based IR-Temperature detection system.
• Acoustic Based track sound analysis system.
• Fibre Optic sensors Networks link.
¾ Development of Hollow Axle reducing the tare weight for increased
loading capacity.
¾ Gas Turbine Locomotive as an alternate fuel source replacing
diesel/electricity.
¾ Satellite Based Monitoring System for Railway Track/Assets
Management.
• Post flood river configuration & effective flood control
mitigation tools.
• Remote sensing, image analysis, feature extraction about
railway assets.
¾ Waste Management with Zero-waste philosophy
• Scientific way of waste disposal mechanism at stations/yards/ in
trains
¾ Identification of source, type & quantity of waste generation, recycle
treatment with eco-friendly process. “Reduce, Recycle & Reuse”
concept for clean, Waterless & Odour less toilets.
¾ Improved Interior of coaches.
• Fire/smoke/electrical short circuit detection & prevention system
• Better aesthetics, ergonomic aspects to suit anthropometric data
for Indian population.
• Search & development of alternate materials.
¾ Communication Based Train Control Systems
• Imported system deployed only in metros and should be applied
to main line trains too.
12
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 ¾ Elimination of power cars
• Presently 2 power cars operate in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains
which limit the train length.
¾ Possible options could be head on generation-power supply from
locomotive. Self- generation by permanent magnet light weight
alternators. Train sets-power supply from pantographs.
¾ Wi-fi on trains – Broadband networks.
¾ Fuel efficiency of Diesel Locomotives
• Auxiliary power unit.(APU)
• Fuel cell assisted APU
• Automatic Engine Start & Stop (AESS)
• Multi Gen Set Loco
• Hybrid (Fuel Cell and Battery both )
• Advanced Technology in Fuel Injection Systems
¾ High efficiency Solid State AC drives for high horse power engine.
¾ Fast switching devices based on IGBT’s /Thyristorized Control
System
• Brushless motors.
• PWM Invertors
¾ Engine Health Monitoring System similar to Black Box concept in
aircrafts, & many more areas where electronics devices, circuits, &
control system, communications & high speed data processing, etc can
provide innovative technological solution.
¾ The most important component being Training Programmes for
railway technical staff on relevant topics for their knowledge
advancement and Skill development.
I am sure this Apex Forum will provide an excellent platform for panellists
to present and deliberate on such vital issues of relevance to the
modernization of Indian Railway. This too has been the subject of concern
to both Government & society. I once again welcome you all here and wish
this programme a grand success.
Thank you all !
13
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Welcome Address by Smt Smirit Dagur, President IETE
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Good morning to all of you.
Developing and improving technical and professional competencies,
particularly in the working environment is the greatest challenge that
professionals face today. To help members avoid technological
obsolescence and to achieve the mission of advancing the professional
competences, IETE offers access to latest developments in the field of
technology via conferences, workshops, publications and brain-storming
sessions on topical areas of current relevance.
The Apex Forum is one such programme which was evolved in the year
1997. Through its medium, over the years, recommendations have been
made to various stakeholders on relevant subjects of high importance. The
topic for today’s Apex Forum is the “MONITORING AND CONTROL SYSTEMS
FOR SAFER RAIL TRANSPORT”.
It is rightly said that more than any other technical design or social
institution, the railway stands for modernity. No competing form of
transport, no subsequent technological innovation, no other industry has
facilitated change on the scale that has been brought about by the invention
and adoption of the railway. Try to think of a world before the railway and
the meaning of distance and the impediment it imposed with the time taken
to travel long distances. Think of the limits placed on economic activity and
human life by the impossibility of moving food, goods, and people in large
numbers. Railways brought distant towns closer to mainstream cities and
helped big-time in commerce. Unlike other industries which become
modern over a period of time, railways changed technology at a much faster
scale. Air travel, unavoidable for long-haul journeys, is considered to be
inconvenient and expensive over medium distances whereas railway has
always been considered a safe and least costly mode of transport.
We all need modern, safe and clean rail transport, operating at a high level
of safety and security and with excellent and convenient services for
passengers. Our economy also needs an efficient and competitive rail
network. Therefore, the Government is putting in all out efforts in building
the rail network of the future in cooperation with all rail sector partners.
14
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 As the Human body is controlled by its brain in the same way Train Control
and Monitoring System (TCMS) is the brain behind the muscles that
powers this huge rolling stock. It is through TCMS that the flow of
information both on-board between the different sub-systems like
converters, doors, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning and also
between the train and ground is managed. Continuous monitoring of trains
and safe signalling offers numerous advantages in train operations today.
For driver-operated and driverless vehicles alike, automatic train control
systems ensure maximum safety and efficiency in every case.
The importance of Train Control and Monitoring System (TCMS)
progressed gradually under modern solution of embedded systems, software
based computer aided control systems, sensors and data communication
technologies.
Today, we have intelligent Control and Monitoring Systems which
incorporate the main features of artificial intelligence like learning and
decision making under uncertain situations by using previous knowledge,
monitoring all movements of the trains on lines and at stations and provide
safe signalling. A large number of automatic functions support the
operating personnel and drivers, making high speeds possible and enabling
the line and network resources to be utilized to maximum capacity. Speed
scheduling of railway vehicle has also shown substantial improvement
by focusing on hard and flexible conditions with learning capability due to
neuro-fuzzy technique.
Initiatives are on to develop an intelligent transportation system for Indian
Railways, which will increase its efficiency and safety. Design and
development of intelligent railway transportation systems becomes
extremely important especially in scattered geography and huge networks
like India. Speedy development of emerging technologies such as
communication and computing, intelligent systems, technological
development of railway industries can be effectively integrated over
existing infrastructures for Indian Railway (IR) to develop and design
railway intelligent transportation system (RITS). RITS, a new generation of
rail transportation would incorporate advanced and intelligent subsystems
such as advanced intelligent monitoring and control systems for train,
infrastructure, supervision, advanced maintenance and so on.
15
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Railways surely play a great role. We are now seeing more advanced
versions of railways like metros and monorails in India. They are seen as a
major way to decongest and clean/green the cities. But one of the greatest
challenges is to ensure cost-effective sustainable mobility. In order to
handle the growing traffic flows in rail transportation, there is a need for
intelligent operations control systems which simplify operations, improve
the usage of existing capacities by making full use of all reserves and also
enable a high level of efficiency and quality of rail transportation, even in
exceptional operating situations.
Prof Bhutani has told us about the strides China has made in terms of the
speed of rail travelling at 360 kms / hour with a smooth ride. I wish our rail
also can achieve that soon. We do provide rail transportation to maximum
number of persons at very reasonable cost. India has the lowest fare per
km/person. We have to improve the quality also. Even travelling in
Rajdhani is not a smooth ride.
I hope this Apex Forum would provide a good platform to discuss best
practices for increasing security in Indian Railways and also highlight the
strategy and its future development to seek improved results.
Thank you and Jai Hind!
List of Speakers
The following distinguished speakers spoke on the occasion and
expressed their views on the various aspects connected with requirement,
framing & freezing the key areas in Electronics & ICT where skill
development programmes could be evolved.
• Er. Arun Saksena, General Manager, North Central Railway-Domain
Expert.
• Dr D K Gupta, GM, Central Organization of Railway Electrification
(CORE), Allahabad
• Prof K K Bhutani, Director UPTECH & Distinguished Fellow IETE
• Er D N Tiwari, Executive Director, Telecom –RDSO
• Prof U S Tiwari, Dean IRP, IIIT, Allahabad-Academic Expert
• Dr G S Darbari, Chairman, Darbari Industries-Industry Partner
• Mr J K Kesarwani, Chairman, Chandra Metals Ltd - Industry Partner
• Mr Manish Vig, Director, Chandra Metals-Industry Partner
16
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 • Mr Tomoyuki Yamato, Managing Director, SIGMAXYZ Singapore
• Mr Yukhiro Fujiyama, MD, Fujiyama Company, Japan
• Madam Smriti Dagur, President, IETE
• Prof Pawan Kapur, Program Coordinator & Chairman of Skill
Development & Industrial Coordination Committee (SD&ICC)
• Prof M K Singh, Chairman IETE Allahabad Centre - Convener
• Dr Ashish Khare, Honaray Secretary, IETE Allahabad CentreConvener
Synopsis
• Dr M K Singh formally welcomed the panellists and other
distinguished delegates to the IETE-Allahabad Centre on the occasion
of Apex Forum on Electronics & Control Systems for Indian Railways
to deliberate on various aspects as contained in the concept paper
which was circulated to all for focussed discussions. Floral welcome
was also given to all the panellists present on the occasion.
• Prof Pawan Kapur, Governing Council member and Chairman
SD&ICC, while extending a warm welcome to all, gave a detailed
coverage on key areas of relevance to modernisation of Indian
Railway using Electronics, Control Systems & ICT tools. He touched
upon areas such as: reliable systems for prevention of accidents at
unmanned level crossings, reduction in HP Diesel locomotives for
fatigue reduction, in loco-drivers, safe traction during foggy weather,
health monitoring of rolling stock, cracks in rail tracks wheels, waste
management for clean toilets, improved interior comforts to
passengers in rail coaches, GPS based technologies for wagon
tracking, RFID Systems with failure protection system under moving
conditions, infrared and acoustic signal processing for hot axel/fault
detection, etc. He emphasized to focus on areas where training
program modules may be worked out which could be jointly taken up
for implementation.
• Mrs Smriti Dagur, President IETE gave an overview of the journey
of IETE over the last 6 decades, areas of activities, academic of
training programmes and special meetings & Apex Forums conducted
from time to time. She also mentioned about the previous Apex
17
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Forums conducted and the current one at Allahabad, its scope and
expected outcomes for framing some course modules, etc.
• Prof K K Bhutani, Distinguished Fellow IETE and Director
UPTECH, Allahabad shared his experiences in the Chinese Railways
during his frequent visits to that country. He showed slides about the
passenger safety, bullet trains, technological advances and the
advanced ICT tools being adopted by them for enhanced comforts,
safety and faster communication to the passengers. He also
highlighted the traction in difficult terrains and focused on efficient
movement of railways for Indian Railways to emulate upon.
• U S Tiwary, Dean, IIIT Allahabad, delivered a scholarly talk on the
future generation interest and its impact on the rail transportation. The
details of his talk covered the current status & future trends in the
technology which according to him is going to affect masses as a
whole. He further gave the history of development of railways in India
and the subsequent development which lead to present stage. Rail
transport, which is the world biggest network both in terms of number
of trains and the number of passengers being connected across the
country daily.
• Dr G S Darbari, C/M Darbari Industry and a strong force connected
with IETE, commented on the Telecommunications and the Electronic
Component Industry to support as ancillary industry in building
electronic systems which could equally be deployed for Indian
Railways.
• Er D K Gupta, GM, CORE, Allahabad, gave a very detailed
presentation on the problems faced by the Indian Railways, progress
made so far on the existing projects and also the technological
solutions sought for new up-coming challenges. He touched almost
each area of R&D activity currently on and also the proposed
developmental plans.
Er. Gupta focused on Railway electrification, structure, high voltage
and insulation aspects, safety devices at un-manned level crossings,
traction under rough weather conditions, locomotion in difficult
terrains, high speed locomotion, hot axle, bearing detection, automatic
train inspection systems at key stations while slow motion rail traffic,
communication to workshop for fault-correction, GPS-Technology
18
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Railways, Passenger Comforts & Safety devices, Advances in
signalling systems, etc.
He also touched upon the need of manpower training at railway
workshops and also under operation environments. He also addressed
to the questions raised on the floor and explained the technical
measures taken-up and the new solutions sought from R&D
institutions and the industry.
• Er D N Tewari, ED Telecom & Director Telecom RDSO,
Lucknow, shared his views on the technological requirements in
various divisions of RDSO and appreciated the efforts taken towards
co-ordinated efforts required for end-to end solutions towards
modernization of Indian Railways. He specially touched on the
telecommunication
network
for
administrative/managerial
communication; It is directly used for train operation as train traffic
control communication system. Another very important use is for
emergency communication, advancements are taking place in these
areas. These advancements include GSM-R, VoIP based train control
communication system, and VSAT based accident site communication
systems. In addition to these core areas, role of telecom is extended
for passenger information dissemination and internet on running train
also. Telecom is now being used more and more as bearer for train
safety applications including signaling applications & wired /wireless
audio visual warning system to road users at level crossing gates. All
these aspects are briefly discussed in this article.
• Shri G K Kesarwani, Chairman and Shri Manish Vig, Managing
Director, Chandra Metals Pvt Ltd., Allahabad, who had attended the
Apex Forum along with his two foreign delegates namely; Mr
Yamoto, MD SIGMAXYZ, Singapore and Mr Yukihero Fuziama,
Tokyo, Japan, spoke as Industry Partners on the activities pursued by
them as ancillary support industry to the Japanese Railways.
• Shri Manish Vig gave a detailed presentation on the activities of
Chandra Metals related to Copper conducting wires for electrification
of tracks, non-destructive methods of testing, infrastructure available
with them in the industrial area, connected with Motilal Nehru
National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, Thus a new outlook
19
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 towards taking up training programme modules on electrification,
signaling etc.
• Mr Yukihero Fuziama, Japan, gave an overview on the Japanese
Railways in terms of high speed track, interior design of coaches,
facilities and comfort level, provided to passengers and also his
company’s role towards ancillary support chain to the railways. He
briefly mentioned about his association with M/s Chandra Metals Pvt
Ltd., Allahabad, towards joint venture ship.
• Mr Yamoto, MD SIGMAXYZ Singapore, gave a ppt presentation on
the Japanese Railways and made a comparison with the Indian
Railways and his role in joint efforts with M/s Chandra Metals Pvt.
Ltd., Allahabad, for some collaborative works on the subject.
The session’s key talk was delivered by the Chief Guest Er Arun
Saksena, GM, North Central Railway. While encompassing the
various issues put forward by the panellists on the theme, he added his
own perspective towards the role of electronic Measurements and
Control Systems in almost every area of Railways, be it production,
operation, repair & maintenance, etc. He specifically mentioned on
the role of training programmes for Railways staff where IETE can
play a key role. He opined that application specific course structure,
contents & certification may be planned jointly which will help the
Indian Railways immensely.
Conclusion
• The Apex Forum had detailed discussions on different aspects such as:
technology development, application areas, maintenance aspect, Skill
upliftment of works both at operation and at (RDSO) production level.
Various experts representing research, academic (IIIT, J K Institute of
Technology, Allahabad), railway officials (CORE,NCR), industry
representatives, professional bodies like IETE, expressed their ideas
which can be crystallized as following specific outcomes :
• There are enough areas where technological developments for
electronic devices, modules and systems can be developed by the
20
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 research organisations. These are challenging areas to which need
high end research such as sensors, networking, information gathering
and feature extraction etc.
• Areas such as sanitation, public health, etc in the trains for waste
management
• Safety devices in coaches
• GPS enabled communication systems both for rail operation and
passenger use may be addressed.
• Testing, repair and maintenance are the backbone of entire Railway
Operation System and the field workers need to be trained on area
specific course modules of appropriate duration & content which can
be conducted at different sites.
• Skill Development Course module may be prepared initially on a few
areas such as Signalling, Testing & IT for training purpose to give a
kick start to this activity.
• Initially a course module can be worked out by IETE Allahabad
Centre jointly with Railway Department, local industry & available
IETE-members/academicians. Based on the home work an MoU may
be framed out for vetting by IETE-HQ for its implementation.
• The MoU should include details of the course content, text, duration,
(lecture-hours), faculty, certification and the sponsorship of
candidates/workers by the concerned railway department.
• Chairman SD&ICC (or representative), Chairman IETE-Allahabad
Centre may workout further modalities with the association of local
industry/academic expert for drafting the same & its subsequent
approval.
• Based on subsequent discussions over lunch, it crystallized out that the
course on Railway signalling may be started immediately at Allahabad
with the support of railway officials. IETE-office bearers and the
21
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 experts to be pooled locally. The certification to the course can be
provided jointly by the IETE & Railways, who are the direct
beneficiary to its outcome. Shri M K Singh, Chairman IETEAllahabad will workout further details as the outcome of the Apex
Forum.
• The course can be started at the IETE-Allahabad centre which can
subsequently be emulated at other IETE Centres as railways have
several workshops in different locations where such programmes may
run effectively.
• The efforts made by all concerned and specifically the verbal
concurrence in principal by Railway Officials to encourage the local
IETE Centre for its effective launch is highly appreciative.
• Contributions made by all is deeply appreciated and acknowledged.
22
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 3.
Appendices
List of Participants –“A”
List of Guest Participants
SNo.
Name
Designation
1
Mrs Smriti Dagur
President, IETE
2
Shri Pawan Kapur
Chairman (SDICC), IETE
3
Mr J K Kesarwani
Chairman, Chandra Metals
4
Dr G S Darbari
Chairman, Darbari Industries
5
Prof U S Tiwari
Dean IRP
6
Mr Manish Vig
Director,Chandra Metals Ltd
7
Mr M K Singh
Chairman,IETE Allahabad
8
Er Arun Saksena
GM, North Central Railway
9
Er D N Tiwari
Executive Director, Telecom, RDSO
10
Prof K K Bhutani
Director, UPTECH
11
Mr Tomoyuki Yamato
MD, SIGMAXYZ, Singapore
12
Mr Yukhiro Fujiyama
MD, Fujiyama Company, Japan
13
Dr D K Gupta
CORE, Allahabad
14
Mr Ranjeet Gupta
Chandra Metals
15
Mr Anil Kumar Dwivedi
Dy GM, Secy to GM,NCR
16
Dr Ashish Khare
J K Institute
17
Mr D K Srivastava
AIR, Allahabad
18
MS Ritika Kesarwani
Chandra Metals
19
Mr R N Mishra
Member, IETE
20
Mr Devesh Mishra
Asst Prof
21
Mr Nishith
Technical, VE
22
Mr Rajesh Kr Pal
Project Co-ordinator
23
Ms Aarti Gupta
Human Resource
24
Mr G S Shukla
FIETE,IETE
25
Mr P N Gupta
Associate Prof
26
Mr Bholandra Singh
Sr DSIE/ALD
27
Mr Parveen Singh
Sr Secretary
28
Mr Alok Chaturvedi
23
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 List of Student Participants (Applied Physics Department, J K Institute of Technology, Allahabad University) 29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
Neha Mishra
Sonam Singh
Smriti Srivastava
Yashwant Tamya
Ashwin A Nair
Abhishek Kumar
Deepanshu Tyagi
Hemant Kumar
Nikhil Khatri
Salvi Singh
Shreya Verma
Jayam Singh
Jayam Singh
Shubham
Shubhankar Mishra
Shantam Srivastava
Ambarish Singh
Mukul Jha
Soumya Verma
Shubham Gupta
Himal Banjade
Chitrangada Singh
Mohana Krishna
Bhumika Varshney
Shakshi Gupta
Akanksha Kumari
Kritika Goyal
Nida Belal
Ajitesh Pratap Singh
Alok Singh
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
Shashank
Sooraj Singh
Archi Mittal
Sheeba Parveen
Apoorva
Bhargava
Bhanupriya Pegu
Divyanshi Dixit
Rachna Saxena
Varun Singh
Gorji P Sampth
Keshav Bhiani
Bhawini Tripathi
Ashish Ojha
Rahul Raj
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
Ayesha Ojha
Raj Krishna Srivastav
Manisha Rajar
Mahendra Kumar
Payal
Akansha Tiwari
Sachin Singh
Rahul Raidas
Asgar Ali Ansari
Vipin Kumar
Dinesh Kumar Singh
Nidhi Maurya
Mahima Tiwari
24
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Some Snapshots of the Day’s Proceedings Welcoming the Chief Guest Dignitaries walking to the Venue
Distinguished gathering during the event 25
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Lighting the lamp
Chief Guest & President IETE on the dais Dr Pawan Kapur addressing the gathering on the theme of the Apex Forum 26
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 President IETE welcoming the delegates Section of participants Compere of the event inviting the dignitaries on the dais 27
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Shri Manish Vig, Chandra Metals Ltd, Allahabad, being honoured on the occasion Shri M K Singh, Chairman IETE Allahabad Centre, honouring President IETE Prof K K Bhutani, Distinguished Fellow of IETE being felicitated 28
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Shri M K Singh, Chairman Allahabad Centre, honouring the Chief Guest Speaker, receiving the Memento 29
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 IETE in Press...........
30
IETE APEX FORUM‐2015 Indian Railways
IETE Allahabad Centre
31