Track and Bridge maintenance future scenario

Indian Railways- a complex system Mixed traffic Different category of routes Suburban sections Heavy mineral routes Sidings Variations in soil/subgrade Climatic variations Law and order situations (Theft prone areas) Coastal areas Corrosion prone areas Topographical variations Encroachment near track in some areas

The linear infrastructure 1.2 lakh track kilometers 1.31 lakh bridges different track machines

Due to its diversity and size it is very difficult to have a common cost effective maintenance system What can be the best maintenance system ?

Present 3 tier system of track maintenance TIER I OMU –on track machine unit TIER II Mobile Maintenance Units (MMU-I and MMU-II) for spot attention and incidental repairs TIER III Sectional Gangs (SG)

Maintenance practices Inspections, flaw detection, measurements and monitoring Systematic and spot attentions Special maintenance: Casual and through renewals Deep screening Ballasting Reconditioning of crossing bodies

Bridge maintenance – present scenario Periodical inspections – inspection registers – NRS – scrutiny is routine. Maintenance planning is done based on the scrutiny of inspection registers. Common maintenance/repair methods are grouting, flooring, shotcreting/guniting, replacing loose rivets, strengthening of members, painting, oiling & greasing/replacement of bearings, protection works etc. Distressed bridges are replaced/rebuilt/strengthened on programmed basis.

Limitations – need for efficient asset management system Condition assessment is heavily dependent on inspections- inspections are routine – over inspections – replacement is on age basis based on GMT-no life cycle analysis- no cost consideration- highly subjective. Machine deployment is periodical and not scientific or need based- over maintenance. Chances of “too early” preventive and “too late” corrective maintenance. Measurements from TRC are not available in real time and user-friendly form -results are not being used for maintenance planning - indexing of results makes it highly subjective.

Indian Railway Vision 2020 (Dec 2009) VISION STATEMENT Indian Railways shall provide efficient, affordable, customer-focused and environmentally sustainable integrated transportation solutions. It shall be a vehicle of inclusive growth, connecting regions, communities, ports and centers of industry, commerce, tourism and pilgrimage across the country. The reach and access of its services will be continuously expanded and improved by its integrated team of committed, empowered and satisfied employees and by use of cutting-edge technology.

Vision 2020 The Vision 2020 aims at making railway operations free of accidents and speaks about use of advance technology to achieve the goal. THE GOAL…

The goal … Passenger train speeds upto KMPH Freight train speeds upto 100 KMPH 50 KMPH speed on turnouts

Critical mission area Early detection of flaws Mechanized maintenance of track Mechanized laying

Maintenance (Management) Strategy….  Standardization of Track structure 60 kg, 90 UTS rails and concrete sleepers with elastic fastenings  Improvements in specifications of materials new types of elastic fastenings  Economical designs of concrete sleepers modern mechanized methods of track-laying and maintenance  Composite sleepers for locations unsuitable for standard– design sleepers Vision 2020

Strategy….. Procurement of 120 m Rails, welded in flash-butt plants and laid in length of 250 mtrs to 500 mtrs Corrosion- resistant rails Welding by in situ by portable flash butt welding plants. Rail grinding and rail lubrication Improved switch expansion joints (SEJ) Vision 2020

Maintenance strategy.. All the maintenance and construction activities related to track shall be mechanized. Trackmen will be equipped with small track machines also. Rail Mounted vehicles (RMV)/Rail-cum-road. All the maintenance units will have communications from worksites in block sections to the control offices. Maintenance blocks shall be taken by P-way and Bridge Engineers through mobile phones by software encoding. Integrated assured blocks shall be made available so that a culture of zero defect and “no surprises” exists during operation of trains. Vision 2020

Maintenance strategy… Cost effective options for mechanized track maintenance, including by remote satellite control, shall be explored. There will be complete mechanization of track maintenance activities. A decision support system such as Track Management System (TMS) will be in place to optimize material, machine and equipment and manpower inputs for track recording-cum- monitoring on the entire IR network (including USFD cars capable of recording precisely the location of track irregularities). Suitable techniques for data mining will be developed so that track maintenance philosophy shifts from present “find and fix” to “measure and predict.” Permanent-way engineers shall also be provided with PDAs for recording inspection inputs. Vision 2020

Maintenance strategy.. Human dependence in the form of push trolley inspection, foot-plating, patrolling, etc. for detection of flaws and deficiencies in track parameters will be eliminated. It is envisaged that by 2020, the health monitoring of assets should be completely mechanized Vehicle mounted USFD would be stabilized by 2020 to achieve a sharp reduction in the number of rail fractures and increased reliability of assets Vision 2020

Management of Bridges Condition of bridges shall be monitored through a Bridge Management System. All new bridges will be on ballasted deck suitable for long- welded rails (LWR) and machine maintenance. Deflection settlement monitoring sensors will be fixed on all important bridges to directly transmit data to computers. New bridges and bridges on dedicated freight corridors and high speed lines will have approach slabs. Retrofitting of bridges (particularly arch- bridges) would be taken up. Vision 2020

The infrastructure management in future needs to focus on : Proper asset management system Low cost in competitive edge Essentially need based. Optimize to suite different routes- suburban, siding Innovation and new technology

Total maintenance and renewal costs Today Tomorrow Preventive planned maintenance Corrective maintenance Condition monitoring Vision 2020 :Focus on : “find and fix” to “measure and predict”. Asset Management

Asset management system will Store, analyse and provide data (in real time) of inspections, condition ratings, historical data and reports, rules and thresholds for performance, Completion Drawings and other data/reports, comparison with similar type of asset components

CRIS is developing various Asset Management Systems  SLAM - Software for Locomotive Asset Management  Crew Management System (CMS)  Material Management Information System (MMIS)  Workshop Information System (WISE)  Locomotive Management System for Diesel locomotives  Freight Maintenance Management System for wagons  Coaching Maintenance Management System (CMM),  Track Management System (TMS)

The challenge.. Collecting the vast, continuous and varied data of inspections, measurements, TRC, USFD,GPR, various NDT, instrumentation, drawings and records, history, repair and maintenance, tamping, wayside detectors, drawings, GMT, and more. Processing and interpreting this data for development of prioritized maintenance and renewal plan in real time. Human dependence for data collection and analysing to be kept minimum.

TMS in present form covers various modules SEJ and LWR Points and crossings Track Structure Track Recording Car (TRC) USFD, Fracture and Weld Job card and work compliance Curve Bridge Level Crossing (LC) Oscillation Monitoring System (OMS) Track Maintenance Planning Machine Deployment Track Diagram Workshop Material Management In future we should aim to use GIS to map the data.

New Technology/ Innovations/new focus areas Road ahead…

Rail flaw detection  Ultrasonic detection- DRTs  Eddy current detection - uses electro-magnetic waves. Suitable for surface cracks  Laser-based ultrasonic inspection technique is being developed (Transport Technology Center, Inc) being non-contact type faster detection at higher speeds and complete inspection of entire rail section (head, foot and web ) is possible.

NDT of bridges RDSO has issued guidelines for NDT in August 2009

Bridge NDT… Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) test Permeability test CORING AND VISUAL INSPECTION HALF CELL – for reinf corrosion – by creating electromagnetic cell between rebar and concrete Resistivity test for corrosion ULTRASOUND –by transmitting acoustic waves IMPACT ECHO – sending impact and measuring rebound RADIOGRAPHY – X Ray or Gamma ray image INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY - measuring subtle temperature differences on the surface – identify delamination or separations GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR) – electromagnetic waves instead of sound waves. Does not need contact

Dream of future.. Embedded sensors - fiber optical (FOS) Deformation sensors- giving condition data and transmitting through wifi networks. Sensor at bearing to give actual load. Sensor to give condition of concrete and masonry, condition of foundation and scour. Instrument to give actual load/stress on LWR Measurement of wheel impact (WILD)

Track machine management With machines and complete mechanization in future we may need a full fledged maintenance system like electric locos having depots to carry out various schedule maintenance, training centers and organization.

Increased attention to life- cycle analysis of asset Asset Management System Use of GIS technology

There may be many more areas where we need to focus. We need to enhance our efforts on Research and Development Research and Development

Conclusion Creation and adoption of an efficient asset management system will enable us to fulfill the dream of our organization to offer reliable, safe and competitive transport mode. An integrated system for land, track, bridge and track machine can be the need of future.

Thanks