American rail technology company Wabtec Corporation announced yesterday that its team based in Australia has been awarded a contract from the Indian Railways’ Central Organisation For Modernisation Of Workshops (COFMOW), for its Online Monitoring of Rolling Stock (OMRS) project.
Wabtec has been a technology provider to the Indian Rail Transportation sector for both Indian Railways and metros. Its portfolio includes locomotives to critical subsystems such as brakes, couplers, doors, air conditions, pantographs, to the smallest of brake pads and power relays, which are used in a variety of rolling stock.
According to Wabtec, the new automated OMRS system is part of Indian Railways’ “SMART Yard” initiative and will improve the availability of the railway’s fleet of coaches, wagons, and locomotives by detecting and addressing defects, preventing in-service failures.
Wabtec will design, develop, supply, install and commission 97 OMRS equipment sets in various railway locations across India.
“Indian Railways is at the forefront of deploying digital solutions to modernize their operations and drive efficiency across its rail network,” said Nalin Jain, Digital Electronics Group President at Wabtec Corporation.
“This order supports their ‘Smart Yard’ initiative, which will showcase the next generation of condition-based predictive maintenance technologies. The OMRS systems will streamline Indian Railways’ operations by automating the inspections of bearings and wheels and pinpointing customized maintenance to maximize the utilization of its rolling stock.”
The OMRS is a wayside solution comprising Rail Bearing Acoustic Monitor (RailBAM) and Wheel Condition Monitor (WCM/ WILD) to detect faults in the axle–journal bearings and wheels of rolling stock.
The RailBAM technology is said to utilise acoustic signatures from bearings to identify bearing defects in advance before they would be identified through human inspection.
The WCM technology uses impact forces exerted by wheels on the rail to identify wheel defects. The OMRS systems enable operators to optimally plan the inspection and removal of defective bearings and wheels based on condition instead of fixed time-based inspection schedules, resulting in a healthier and more reliable fleet.
“Wabtec and Indian Railways have partnered for decades to continually provide the country with rail technology solutions that enable an efficient, reliable, and safe rail network,” said Sujatha Narayan, Senior Vice President and India Region Leader, Wabtec Corporation.
“This project will bring in state-of-the-art global digital high-tech solutions to the substantial portfolio of the India business enabling Indian Railways in their journey of modernization and digitalization.”
The data from all the wayside OMRS systems will be fed into a state-of-the-art Central Data Control Center to be established in Delhi through the Wabtec Fleet ONE software.
Starting over 150 years ago, Wabtec has been a leader in the rail industry with the vision to achieve a zero-emission rail system in the U.S. and worldwide.
The company has approximately 27,000 employees located at facilities in 50 countries throughout the world.
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