Lok Sabha Question No. 241 (STARRED), answered on 2015-12-16
Subject: Condition based monitoring system
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 241 TO BE ANSWERED ON 16.12.2015

## CONDITION BASED MONITORING SYSTEM

- *241 DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT: SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  existing  mechanism  to  monitor  the  health  of  Railway  track and rolling stock;
- (b) whether  any  long-term  plan  has  been  drawn  to  replace/improve tracks/rolling  stock and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Railway  is in the process of  introducing  Condition Based  Monitoring  System  (CBMS)  aiming  to  bring  down  the accident rates and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  the  Railways  proposes  to  involve  global    firms  in  the project    in  line  with  'Make  in  India'  programme  and  if  so,  the details thereof along with the steps  taken by the Government  so far in this regard; and
- (e) the other steps  taken/being taken  by the Government  to prevent train accidents in the country?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI SURESH PRABHAKAR PRABHU)

(a) to (e):  A Statement  is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF STARRED QUESTION  NO.  241  BY  DR.  HEENA  VIJAYKUMAR  GAVIT  AND  SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 16.12.2015 REGARDING CONDITION BASED MONITORING SYSTEM

(a) & (b) Railway is  undertaking  monitoring  of Railway Tracks as per laid  down  systems  which,  inter  alia,  includes  daily  monitoring    by Keyman, monitoring at pre-defined interval by various levels of inspecting    officials  and    monitoring  of  track  parameters  by  track Recording Cars and Oscillation Monitoring Systems.

Maintenance, upkeep and improvement in the condition of coaches is a continuous process and this is carried out periodically during laid down maintenance  schedule  in  open  line,  as  well  as  periodic  overhauls  in Workshops. Besides this, coaches are also given a 'Mid-life' rehabilitation  to  restore  their  condition.  As  part  of  Indian  Railways Modernization  Program,  we  shall  be  completely  switching  over  to manufacturing  current  state-of-the-art  LHB  coaches  in  our  Production Units in the next Four years.

Coaches  are  periodically  replaced  on  age-cum-condition  basis,  after attaining their prescribed codal life.  Besides, continual improvement in quality of coaching stock is done through development of new designs and retrofitment on existing coaches.

(c) & (d) Yes, Madam.  Indian  Railways  wishes  to  install railway vehicle mounted 'On Board Rolling Stock Condition Monitoring System' that  will  monitor  the  health  and  safety  of  key  components  of  the coaches, freight cars, locomotives that would finally result in improved safety,  improved  reliability,  higher  utilization,  increased  up -time  and reduced  operation  cost  of  the  railway  assets  by  enabling  Predictive Maintenance  and  reduction  in  sudden  catastrophic  failures  of  these assets.

For  Inducting  high  technology  and  for  adopting  internationally  proven Software Embedded Electronic Railway Signalling Systems in Railway Signalling,  Cross  Acceptance/Approval  policy  is  being  followed  by Research  Designs  and  Standards  Organisation  (RDSO)  for  registering Global  Firms  as  approved  vendors  wherein  approval  for  systems  that are  satisfactorily  functioning  in  other  advanced  railway  systems  are speedily scrutinized for approval into Indian Railways.

As a path-breaking effort of Indian Railways, an Expression of Interest (EoI)  for  development  of  'On-Board  Rolling  Stock  Condition  Monitoring System' has been called for. Offers against this EoI have been received from both - Indian and Global firms. Since such a system shall be tried out on Indian Railways, the specifications of the same are being firmed up.

When Indian Railways call for the bid for procurement of such systems, the bidders will be asked to submit their plan for indigenization of such systems under 'Make in India' along with their offers.

(e)  Safety  is  accorded  the  highest  priority  by  Indian  Railways  and  all possible steps are undertaken on a continual basis to prevent accidents and to enhance safety.  To enhance the safety of Rolling Stock as well as  that  of  track,  numerous  Electronic  in-motion  weigh  bridges,  Wheel Impact Load Detectors (WILD) that measure the hammering impact of an  out  of  round  wheel  on  the  rails,  Block  Proving  Axle  Counters, Auxiliary  Warning System, Colour Light LED Signals, Vigilance  Control Device have been installed. In addition, Indian Railway is using 60 kg rails  and  Pre-stressed  Concrete  Sleepers,  long  rail  panels,  better welding  technology,  progressive  use  of  Linke  Hofmann  Busch  (LHB) Coaches, Centre Buffer Couplers with Integral Coach Factory Coaches etc.

One Track side bogie monitoring system has been installed in Northern Railway  at  Bakkas  near  Lucknow  to  monitor  and  identify  the  axle bearings that are likely to become defective. The device gives an alarm on  detecting  a  defective  or  'likely  to  become  defective'  axle  bearing when a coach/wagon/locomotive passes in front of the system.

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