Freight loading in Guntur Division of South Central Railway has registered robust increase in the current financial year till 12th November, 2020 with the consistent efforts of the railway officials & newly formed BDU team of Guntur Division and the support & valuable guidance extended by Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR.
- The Division has registered freight loading to the tune of 1.56 Million Tonnes which is 102% increase when compared with the same period in the previous financial year, which is 0.77 Million tonnes only.
- The division also surpassed the previous year’s Total Freight Loading of 1.551 Million Tonnes.
- Indian Railways has focussed on freight loading with the reduction in the operation of passenger train services in the current financial year. Accordingly, various freight concessions and incentive schemes are being announced by Ministry of Railways for the benefit of freight customers.
- In addition, the Business Development Units as envisaged by Railway Board to assist the freight customers in easing their hardships and also to concentrate on attracting new traffic and enhancing the existing loading so as to increase Railways share in transport sector are also yielding good results.
- The major factors contributed in achieving the highest freight loading in the current financial year by Guntur Division are:
- The Food grains loading has been registered as 0.726 Million tonnes which is almost 300% more than the previous year (0.178 MTs). Division has significantly contributed to Prime Minister Gareeb Kalyan Yojana by transporting FCI Rice to Tamilnadu, Kerala and West Bengal during the Covid-19 pandemic times. During the current year, 5.3 lakh tons of Rice has been loaded additionally over the last year.
- Clinker loading to the tune of 0.398 MTs has been done by the division which is 203 % more than the previous year (0.129 MTs).
- Containers traffic to the tune of 0.117 MTs has been registered by the division which is 66 % more than the previous year (0.070 MTS).
- A new stream of export traffic of Dry Chillies to Bangladesh has been started from the division and run first Indian Railways’ International Time Tabled Parcel Cargo Exp from Reddipalem to Bangladesh. So far, 12 freight rakes and 11 parcel rakes of dry chillies have been dispatched to Bangladesh.
- A new Greenfield Private Freight Terminal served by Nagireddypalli station has been commissioned in the month of May, 2020 with a view to ensure essential supplies of food grains. So far, 51 rakes of food grains have been loaded from this terminal.
- 12 rakes of Maize have been loaded from Nandyal, Nadikude and Reddipalem stations.
Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, South Central Railway appreciated the efforts of the Railway Officials of Guntur Division in enhancing freight loading to the new heights. He advised the officials to continue the same pace till the end of financial year to record the best figures in freight loading.
Recent Achievement of SCR:
Recently, a first-of-its-kind New Software Prototype has been developed by the in-house team of Tirupati Coaching Depot for Integrated online monitoring of LHB coaches while on run.
- This will continuously measure and record data points for online monitoring of Axle Box Bearings and Wheel Slide Protection Device (WSPD) by making use of the Data Analytics in making the train journey safer and avoiding en-route coach detachments.
- The Integrated online monitoring system has been installed in LHB coaches and will monitor the WSPD and Axle Box temperature of LHB coaches on a continuous basis through mobile application and will alerts in case any fault noticed for timely preventive corrective action.
About Wheel Slide Protection Device:
- LHB coaches are provided with Wheel Slide Protection device (WSPD) to control the adhesion during brake application.
- WSP system is a combination of various electronic cards and is housed in electrical control panel units and is connected by means of various cables.
- This WSP system costs about Rs. 21 Lakh and for Annual Maintenance of this system including air brake costs nearly 3.5 lakhs for SS-II schedule and 7.5 lakhs for SS-III schedule.
- At present, the WSP system is being examined during Primary maintenance. However, there are several faults that can happen while the train is on run which can lead to wheel shelling which in turn causes several other problems such as spring breakage, grease oozing, damper leakage etc.
- To effectively address this problem, the new software developed by SCR’s in-house team will now be able to provide important data such as time of occurrence of the fault, how long WSPD system was in fault mode, provide pointers for reason of the fault and relay this information in the real time so that correct action can be taken to avoid wheel shelling.
Working of Online Monitoring System:
- To monitor the status of the above two parameters, an Integrated Online Monitoring System is provided in LHB coaches.
- Integrated Online Monitoring System for Wheel Slide Protection Device & Axle Box Bearing Temperature in LHB Coaches is a unique system which not only facilitates Enroute monitoring of the WSP system with mobile application but also measures the axle box temperature at enroute.
- Any abnormalities noticed in both during the static & dynamic condition of the coach are immediately replicated in mobile application, so that immediate preventive action can be taken to avoid unusual occurrences.
- In addition to the safety of the trains & passengers, life of the vital rolling stock parts like Wheel, spring, dampers etc can also be enhanced.
- It is cost-effective (costing Rs. 2,000 approx) and consists of Printed Circuit Board (PCB), Micro Controller, LDR Sensors, Temperature Sensors and Wi-fi Router with power supply.
Source: South Central Railway-Press Release | Image Credit (representational): MoR
