CTC TUNDLA EXPERIENCE AND LESSONS LEARNT

BY: VIJAY MALVIYA

DY CSTE/CTC TUNDLA

IRSSE 2005

Contract Awarded on 1.2.2006 as a part of KfW Project for MODERNIZATION OF SIGNALING AND TELECOMMUNICATION IN KANPUR GHAZIABAD SECTION.

CTC Make: M/s ANSALDO (M/s HITACHI)

BRIEF OF CTC TUNDLA

CTC TUNDLA covers the full TDL control 03 boards (GZB board, Areaboard & CNB board) by 06 territories i.e. T1,T2,T3,T4,T5 & T6 covering 47stations with total route km of 393.89 km. The full track Km of this sectionis automatic signaling with the last commissioning of TDL yard on20.10.2019.

CTC TDL right now is commissioned between Aligarh (Ex) to Panki (Ex),which are part of present Area Board and Kanpur Board of TDL control. InCTC they are divided into four territories i.e. T1, T2, T3 and T4 . This iscovering total route Km of 280 km.

4

Existing Boards CTC Territory Station Total

Station

CNB BOARD

T1 BPU, MTO, RRH, AAP, JJK, KNS & PHD 7

T2PTX, ULD, SHW, BNT, EKL, ETW, SB &

JGR8

CNB BOARD +

AREA BOARDT3 BBL, BDN, KAA, SKB, MNR, FZD & HNG 7

AREA BOARD +

GZB BOARDT4 MTI, BRN, CMR, JLS, PRA, HRS, SNS

MXK, DAQ & ALJN,

10

GZB BOARD T5MWUE, KLA, SOM, DAR, KRJ, SKQ &

CHL7

T6 WIR, DKDE, AJR & MIU 4

BREAK UP OF CTC TERRITORY

PNK, TDL & DER Stations shall not be Covered under CTC Operation

Controlled Area Map

CTC System – ArchitectureFirst Floor

Way Side Stations

Ground Floor- Pre Fabricated Structure

CTC System – Data Transmission Network

7

Architecture at a Wayside Station

• Wall display layouts designed to show sequential train operation from Panki to ChipyanaBuzurg stations, both UP and DN lines. For big yards only Main line and Running loop linesare shown on wall display. (Complete Yard is displayed on Workstations)

• Centralized Operation of Signaling Systems for a large sectionencompassing multiple interlocked stations and Real time Monitoring ofTrain Traffic for enabling efficient decision making.

• CTC operator of particular territory can operate all the signals, points,routes of any station of his territory from CTC in Aligarh-Kanpur section.(Presently 30 stations in 270 RKM are managed from CTC)

• Train ID (Train Number) can be entered either by CTC or by Local ASM• During operation from CTC, all the operations being done will be visible to

local ASM on his panel along with indications of status of availability ofCTC or Not CTC.

• The response time between a change of state at a way side station andits display at CTC is less than 2 Seconds. ( Most Important factor indetermination of technology).

• ASM at station and CTC operator can handover/takeover control in mutualcooperation or in emergency directly with a set of commands in drop downmenu.

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Contd….

Block System: Kanpur-Ghaziabad section is fully automatic including yards. Trains are visible at entire length of section.

Gate Working: All gates in CTC territory are interlocked and approach warning from 4 Km is given to Gateman for closing of Gates.

When the Gate is closed Gateman presses the button after verification of tracks the Gate gets locked and the Gate Signal get approach cleared from 4 Kms. ASM need not exchange private no. with Gateman for closing of gate. (This aspect will be important in Commissioning of CTC in Non Automatic Territory)

Signals are lowered by CTC operator and planning done by Section Controller. Train charting is being done by local ASM via E-TSR.

CTC-Tundla Operational Summary12

• Total no. of CTC manageable stations: 44

• No. of stations commissioned and live on CTC: 30 (Aligarh Kanpur Section)(remaining stations to be commissioned with bidirectional signalling in Aligarh –

Ghaziabad section)

• Maximum no. of stations controlled by operating department till date: 29

• 24/7 CTC operation started since 14.03.2019 and statistics till 20.03.2020 is:• Total no. of trains controlled = 60856

• Total train operation hours = 7332

• Average trains per day = 199

• Maximum trains throughput from CTC system = 247

HIRANGAON was the first station connected with CTC on 23/03/2015, no operation was done from CTC.

As of Today

COMMISSIONING CHALLENGES

Good and spacious building for CTC. (Length of the section, no. of stations, clear viewing distance and Resolution). The viewing distance calculated is 7.5 Mtr and the size of the Font calculated is 33 mm. No any FRS/SRS and RDSO specifications. Proceeded with Tender Conditions and schedule.The prototype of the station was going to be changed. With CTC Additional hardware is added. Staff was trained at site. Sanction (CRS or PCSTE???). CRS/NE-C then advised to go for PCSTE sanction for CTC commissioning. Special Instructions required to implement CTC as per GR 9.09. In NCR Issued on 01.03. 2018.CTC commissioning depends on Automatic works and EI commissioning at site. New CTC sites should work on both simultaneously. The automatic commissioning should be done as per RDSO recommendation. OFC based autosignalling.

Cont…..

COMMISSIONING CHALLENGES

Ring protection via OFC is must. Ofc is the veins of CTC. OFC Cuts and losses plays havoc in CTC network as all station are connected.Draft of Temporary Working Rules for guidance of ASM and CTC operators. Finalization took more than two and half years. Training of CTC operators and ASM at wayside stations. For Normal Takeover and Emergency Takeover. (Lessons Learnt : There should be an auto command in case of failure of communication between CTC and ASM, and ASM can’t take over, command then can be automatically transferred to local ASM in 3-4 min)

POST COMMISSIONING CHALLENGES

Many stations VDU view was disturbed for 5-10 min even when there was single fiber cut. As all stations connected serially via IP Networking(Rectification: By improving the OFC losses and connectivity at every station). Train ID missing cases on Workstations. (Rectification: CTC Software modification done).Irregularity in Route stacking command in main line. (Rectification: CTC Operators were suitably counselled).Route setting over a flashing Point (Rectification: Software customized as per local requirement as earlier it was based on European standards).Cases of False Indications. (Rectification: Regular staff Counselling regarding incomplete operations by two step command and also by popping up a notification alarm).

CONT….

POST COMMISSIONING CHALLENGES

Frequent changes in any section/station/LX gates in CTC territory of 397 R-KM has to be incorporated in the CTC software immediately to prevent blackout of that particular section. Needs continuous monitoring and feedback from all the units working in the section.TMS (Train Management System) not used by Section Controller due to different concept than COA. Difficult for Controllers to work in two different systems ie CTC and COA. Integration of CTC data with COA can solve above issues as applications like NTES, COIS, FOIS fetches data from COA and not CTC train graph. Although control is at CTC but decision improving systems are required like MIS, Automatic Train Supervision, intelligent applications guiding controller. Eg any slow running HST should create an alarm to controller.

OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES

How Operation is done in ConventionalSystem and in CTC….

Prevailing ARCHITECTURE of Operation

COA SECTION CONTROLLERPLANNING

SM1-EXECUTION

SM2-EXECUTION SM4-

EXECUTIONSM3-EXECUTION

SM5-EXECUTION

CHIEF CONTROLLERDy. OPERATIONSDy. PUNCTUALITYOFFICERSOTHER DEPARTMENTS

What keeps Controller Busy in conventional system

He is always talking to ASMs of his board that can vary from 14-20 ASMs.

He is entering details of train entry and exit on control board COA terminal. (As per feedback from Controllers this activity is 60-70 % of their job).

He is also doing planning of his section regarding train operation/approval of shunting in major yards/precedence of trains/Traffic Blocks-SI4.

Still he has no Real time information, most of the time they are working on their experience. Better the controller…better the punctuality on that specific day.

Intensive Communication process prone to human errors.

That means we are prone to human error. Eg wrong calculation of any train speed and then starting a goods train on approach of HST in main line.

CTC Proposed ARCHITECTURE of Operation

CTC CONTROLLERPLANNING AND EXECUTION

AUXILIARY FUNCTIONS OF SMs

CHIEF CONTROLLERDy. OPERATIONSDy. PUNCTUALITYOFFICERSOTHER DEPARTMENTS

SM 1 SM 2 SM 5SM 4SM 3

Present ARCHITECTURE of Operation with CTC

COA SECTION CONTROLLER- PLANNING

SM 1-EXECUTION SM 2-

EXECUTION

TERMINAL 3-EXECUTION

TERMINAL 4-EXECUTION

CHIEF CONTROLLERDy. OPERATIONSDy. PUNCTUALITYOFFICERSOTHER DEPARTMENTS

COA CONTROLLER DOES THE PLANNING AND GIVES INSTRUCTIONSTO CTC OPERATORS

CTC OPERATORS COMMUNICATE WITH ASM AND LX GATEMANREGARDING TRAIN OPERATION.

CTC OPERATOR DOES THE TRAIN OPERATION FOR RESPECTIVETERRITORIES (6-8 STATIONS) IE SETTING OF ROUTE, LOWERING OFSIGNAL ETC.

E-TSR IS BEING MANAGED BY LOCAL ASM.

TWO JOBS REDUCED : TALKING TO ASM FREQUENTLY AND TRAINDATA ENTRY. MOREOVER AS SIGNAL OPERATION IS BEING DONE INFRONT OF HIM, HE CAN MANAGE IT WELL AND EFFICIENTLY.

Present ARCHITECTURE of Operation with CTC

COA is indispensible

As integration of COA with NTES, FOIS, COIS ; COA Chart monitoredby HQ, Division and Local officer; Interchange with Other Divns..

Planning through CTC- Issues

Planning can’t be done for Big yards-Simultaneous difficult withOperation

Big yards NOT on CTC like TDL not taken.

Branch lines NOT there.

Smaller Planning territory and Many Planning Units- coordinationdifficult

Traffic Dept Issues and Experience gained

Cont…

Planning for Shunting/Blocks/Failures Not Possible.

Planning Effort High( Mixed Traffic) + Operating Effort

Issue with Rules/Protocols

G&SR, JPOs, special instructions all framed erstwhile system of working

which is major issue. Like GR 5.15 do not allow shunting from CTC.

Restricts migration of further COA Board into CTC Theatre- Noise .

Handling Signal Failure alarms

Alarms of 8-10 stations simultaneously.

Visibility IssueFalse indicationsU is a Restricted ALPHABET-Issue in creatingtrain ID.No two trains have same names.No information about kilometers and TWRdiagrams which restricts implementation ofPOWER AND TRAFFIC Block through CTC.

Technical issues

Physical confirmation by SM present at station isneeded in case of stopping trains then onlystarter can be taken off after its scheduledstoppage.BLUE And GREEN color only. Color limitations.Limitation of exhibiting up to maximum 6 linesonly. In present set up TDL, DER and PNKstation have been left out of CTC purview.E-TSR failures and Time Lag in Updation.

Cont…

Reduced Communication Over Control phone. Moretime for planningGives Real time view of the section -Help infailures/emergency.Give facility of Route Stacking. (Multi Route Can be setin 2-3 commands)

Operator can set the long routes within a territory with a single command.Train Id visible/Configurable on Local Station.Playback for a large section is possible.

Advantages of CTC

Integration of COA, NTES, FOIS, COIS,SCADA etc. with CTC.Alignment of CTC terminals with COAboundaries.Reorientation and reconfiguration of walldisplay.Larger font size.Built in intelligence – Can plan JudiciousPrecedences.Way to reduce strain on eyes-ANTI GLARE

What we need ?

Orientation of stations in the wall-display and dynamic allocation of territories

Legibility limits must be considered to develop adequately the orientation of stations on the wall-display and the dynamic allocation of territories

Option1

Option 2

Amendments in G&SR, JPOs, special instructions etc.acc. to CTC to get more out of it.Quick changes as per changes in layout.Inclusion of TWRD, station kilometers platform nos. andCSRs which helps better planning and imposition ofPower and Traffic Block.Responsibility of Train Stopping- Driver; Train Starting-Guard with through Signals.Provision of separate color for the ID of High SpeedTrains and priority trains is essential for betterobservation.Passenger Info System and Public Addressing system.

What we need ?

Block memos and granting of blocks/SI4.SM maintains various registers and records atthe station.Working and LCP operation during failures.Public dealings and commercial activities atsmall stations.Caretaker of station and railway properties.Coordination between different Departments,Issuance of various Authorities at the time offailures.

Why SMs can’t be eliminated?

Reasons-

Caution orders.shunting orders issued by him.Physical verification of complete arrival of trains at the station.Alright signal exchange.Ensuring station railway tracks free from all obstructions(CRO,MRO).Imposition of MASS. (Modified Automatic Signaling Systemduring FOG)Securing of loads at the time of loads stabling.Closing of LC gates .Ensuring Cutting of OHE supply during emergency.

Why SMs can’t be eliminated?

LESSONS LEARNT & EXPERIENCE GAINED FROM TUNDLA CTC

Let’s finalize RDSO Specifications. (Responsibility of all Railways not onlyRDSO)

CTC shall be provided with open protocol, which the OEMs shall be asked to sharefor interfacing with other CTCs and future expansion, when required. Also protocolconverter required for interfacing with different PI/EIs and necessary testing beforecommissioning.

Dedicated OFC N/W with ring protection. (Channels from Railtel can also be usedfor protection only). Its important for networking of all stations with CTC as well asto bring the mid section information to station(and then to CTC ).

FRS (Functional Requirement Specification) and SRS (System RequirementSpecification) should be mutually agreed to and approved in time bound manners.(S&T and Traffic Dept.).

Contd….

Issuing of Special Instructions (and subsequently Temporary Working Rule by SrDOM) for CTC as per GR Para 9.09 ( Working of Trains on CentralizedTraffic Control Territory – On a section where CTC is in operation, theworking of trains shall be governed by Special Instructions)

Working of Gate Closing/Opening in Non Automatic Territory.

Block Working from CTC in Non Automatic Territory. Working of CTC inDhamra Port is an excellent example.

CTC should be made interactive, i.e. Controller should be able to generate trafficrelated queries from the system (Like expected bunch of trains in DN/UPdirection for planning loop line movements).

Contd….

Real time prediction traffic planning tools, Automatic train supervision (ATS)functionality, Customized MIS reports and Automatic Route setting (ARS) aredesirable.

Voice Recording system in CTC for quality analysis and in emergency. (Like VoiceLoggers in present controls)

Proper building preferably at central location of the project. Additional adequate spaceshould be available for any future expansion.

Power Supply: Minimum three power supply back up system should be available. MainSource should be AT Supply.

Air conditioning, Fire Alarms management, lighting, acoustics, emergency exits, accesscontrol are some of the features to be taken into consideration.

Formation of SPECIALISED TASK FORCE for special projects.

THANKS