Freight corridors capable of running a train every 10 minutes at full potential: Hitachi Rail’s Mangal Dev

Why is it important to decongest the railways’ high density networks?

During the preparation of the National Rail Plan, the networks were categorised into high density network (HDN) and highly utilised network (HUN). This means that if a section can run 100 trains a day, you are running more than 100 trains. Because of this, the whole system gets tired and there is no time for maintenance, which affects efficiency and compromises safety. The government has now taken up many multitracking projects to decongest these sections, which is a welcome step. The size of the contract has also increased. Earlier it used to be average 50-km per contractor, now it is being awarded up to 500-km per contractor. The whole package is being awarded to bigger companies, which is expediting the project.

While two DFCs are functional, Railways should take up other freight corridor projects as well, which were planned earlier. It is true that the projects are cost-intensive, but because of the DFCs, we (have) received far better technology than what the Railways was using earlier.

For example, track linking — now multiple kilometres can be linked in a day — ballast-setting machinery, the catenary OHE (overhead equipment) system, electric-pole machinery, and powerful auger machines (post-hole diggers/drills) to bore holes for installing steel masts that support the OHE. The mechanisation of railway construction has moved to another level.

Are the two dedicated freight corridors being utilised to their full potential?

There has been a significant impact on the freight loading because of these two corridors. One of the important factors in the operation of the trains is headway — the gap or time difference between two trains at a station. While passenger trains are time-tabled, freight trains are not, which makes it difficult to determine the headway.

But in DFC, freight trains are time tabled. It has set a target of 10-minute headway. This means that every 10 minutes a freight train should pass the station. If we achieve this, then it would be the right, optimum utilisation of the network.

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While analysing the potential of a corridor, we also look at the yield, called throughput, in railway terminology. It is the maximum amount of passengers or freight that can be transported from A to B in a fixed time period. The length of a freight train is usually 750 m. But in DFC, the length of the train was first doubled, then they made it a double stack container. So the capacity was increased by four times, and with the increase in speed the DFC throughput was also increased.

Another factor is the schedule of dimension, which defines the maximum and minimum physical spaces for tracks, tunnels, bridges, wagons, etc. It is more in DFCC, which increases the loading.

What are the other steps for decongesting HDNs?

Electronic Interlocking is one of the important things in Railways. It serves as both — a foundational support for safety and helping in decongesting a section. For instance, on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Kanpur route, a programme was launched for capacity enhancement long back. Here Hitachi did resignalling on the corridor and a centralised traffic centre was developed in Tundla. It helps in monitoring every train through Axle Counter and AFTC (Audio Frequency Track Circuit). It helped to decongest the section, but this is not enough.

Now, the railways has decided that the running kilometre should be increased. For instance, in a section, there can be enough track, but few siding to pass the train. So here, the running km will be compromised. Let’s say a bridge comes in between the track, where the speed has to be reduced, compared to other sections, this will impact the overall running-km. So, efforts are being made to remove the curbs and eliminate the train stoppages apart from those at stations.

Along with this, if we interconnect all the yards and divert the freight trains to the DFCs, the throughput will increase and passenger trains will get seamless movement.

Is there a need to diversify the commodities in freight transport?

Yes. The railways is currently known for its bulk transportation. But there is a whole area of non-bulk goods. If the railways does not meet the demands of India’s growing economic activity, it will be transferred to roadways. The railways has this advantage of being a green transport system compared with roadways. Non-bulk products such as e-commerce and even industrial goods should be transported through the railways.

The railway has to become a door-to-door service and provide last mile connectivity. It should collaborate with small transport companies. (There is a) scheme like truck-on-train, where a whole truck loaded with milk is transported from one end to another. Railways should launch more such schemes.

While diversifying commodities, we should also consider other factors such as the environment, apart from remuneration. We should also consider the comparison between the land required for a highway project and a railway project. All this should be taken into account. There are a lot of indirect benefits of the Railways.

If the Railways decides to carry 3,000 million tonnes (mt) of freight on the same network, much higher than the current 1,600 mt loading, the base will reduce and the return will increase.

Will Hitachi provide signalling for India’s Bullet train project?

We are the partners of Japan Rail East. The whole technology is coming from there. As of now Civil and electrification work is ongoing in the Bullet train project, our role will come later for signalling. The discussion is ongoing. As far as other passenger corridors are concerned, this project has resulted in capacity building and other projects will get expedited. The capacity building in DFC has been completed, and the next project will achieve completion earlier than expected. Like in the case of the metro starting from Delhi, we always learn from the first project.