AWPMS System To Increase Safety And Speed Of Trains

By Chanchal Mukherjee

New Delhi: To enhance safety and speed up train movements, the railway is going to introduce the Automatic Wheel Profile Measurement System, which will help to alert about any issues related to wheel condition and provide accurate real-time monitoring data to authorities.

Highlighting the benefits of AWPMS, Navin Kumar, National President of Indian Railway S&T Maintainers’ Union (IRSTMU), told ETV Bharat, “This system will help to detect overheating of the wheel, thickening or any other cracks, and break jams easily, which will be rectified as per requirement.”

Expressing his view on the issue, Alok Chandra Prakash, general secretary of IRSTMU, told ETV Bharat, “Wheels-related issues are being monitored and maintained through this modern technology. It saves time for detecting the fault as compared to manual procedures.”

The data generated by the system will help in knowing the wear trend to plan in advance wheel turning and analysing wear patterns of different wheels easily.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Ram Sharan, Central President of All India Loco Running Staff Association, said, "This advanced technology will obviously fasten the train speed and increase safety. Currently, the Carriage and Wagon (C&W) department looks after the work of maintaining wheels."

“Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is selected to undertake the work of Procurement, Supply, Installation, Testing and Commissioning of four AWPMS. It will be responsible for implementing the project till commissioning of the system at the respective 4 sites of Indian Railways,” Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

The advantages of the automatic technologies are as the system is fully automatic, the system is installed on the normal train movement path so wheel measurement takes place as the train moves resulting in saving of time, Alarms or maintenance alerts get generated automatically and informed to users through SMS and email following which early action on rectifications of faults can be taken, the status of wheel profile parameters can be seen by multiple authorized users from anywhere, through the web portal, so, dissemination of information to all concerned is swift, and wheel profile data created by the system will help in knowing wear trend to plan in advance wheel turning and analysing wear patterns of different wheels.

“Introduction of AWPMS supports Indian Railways' broader goals of modernisation and technological upgradation as it is a step towards automation of maintenance activities related to trains,” Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha.

The system eliminates the human interface in the measurement of the train’s wheel profile. The system also automatically transmits an alert message to the user in case of any abnormalities. DMRC will have to provide the systems to the railways at 4 depots within a stipulated time schedule.

Real Time Monitoring

As per railways, it will help to get accurate and real-time monitoring of wheels, enabling early detection of wear, incipient abnormalities. However, old methods take time to examine the wheels and detect the fault. The system enhances the performance and reliability of railways.

Data Collection

Modern technology helps to collect data for further analysis and use it to upgrade the system. It needs internet and data connectivity for the transfer of data, display of reports and visual alarms from the site. However, in the manual process of examination, it is not needed.

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