Dedicated Freight Corridor: In-House Developed Information System Manages To Run Over One Lakh Trains Till Date

The dedicated freight corridor alignment connecting New Sonnagar (Bihar) to New Sanand (Gujarat) is fully commissioned.

Freight trains from Dhanbad, Danapur, Sonnagar and Mughalsarai can now seamlessly reach JNPT port in Maharashtra and ports of Pipavav, Mundra and Kandla in Gujarat, running entirely on the corridor.

According to Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited  (DFCCIL), this will ensure timely delivery of coal to power houses and empty wagons will be returned for further loading from coal mines.

Exploring the potential of the exclusive goods corridor in increasing the freight traffic share of Indian Railways to 45 per cent, from the current share of 27 per cent, Railway Board member (operation and business development) Jaya Verma Sinha congratulated DFC officials for achieving 77.2 per cent commissioning and connectivity between New Sonnagar (Bihar) to New Sanand (Gujarat).

While inspecting the Operation Control Center (OCC) of DFCCIL at Prayagraj, Sinha observed that this would help in achieving the National Rail Plan 2030.

This plan includes preparing a strategy based on operational efficiencies and commercial policy initiatives to increase the share of railways in freight traffic to 45 per cent, and the challenges faced in its day-to-day operations.

Sinha appreciated the in-house developed web-based centralised IT system dedicated freight information system.

More than 1,00,000 trains have been run and managed in this system. Sinha also appreciated various innovations by DFCCIL like virtual lobby for crew, which has resulted in greater efficiency and removed duplication of work.

Virtual Lobby for Crew in DFC

DFCCIL has evolved with the virtual lobby concept. The necessary activities of crew sign-on/off have been achieved by leveraging the benefit of technology, through a mobile app and removing the duplication of work by different departments.

Dedicated Freight Information System (DFIS)

DFCCIL has conceptualised, designed, developed and implemented web-based centralised IT system DFIS. It is an in-house developed information system of operating and business development in DFCCIL.

DFIS caters to higher management and ground staff for improved freight operations. It provides a live visual model of freight trains on the DFC network which can help plan the traffic flows and optimise freight operations.

DFIS comprises various modules, reports and dashboards for operation, station management, commercial and business development, block management systems, safety, inspections, infra-module (civil, mechanical, signal and telecommunication, electrical), live trains, block management, etc.

It is running on secured CRIS cloud server.

Operation Control Centre (OCC) Prayagraj

DFCCIL has set up a state-of-the-art OCC at Prayagraj which acts as the command centre for the entire route length of 1,337 km of Eastern dedicated freight corridor, controlling and monitoring the system including train operation and power supply system.

OCC is a shining example of "Make-in-India" with a total built-up area of 13,030 sqm and is developed over 4.20 acres of land. It is one of the most modern buildings globally for train operations.

The building is eco-friendly equipped with solar power and rainwater harvesting. The operation theatre is equipped with 1,560 sqm with a video wall of more than 90 sqm.

OCC is equipped with integrated train management system and supervisory, control, and data acquisition or the SCADA system, the first-of-its-kind in India, built on a state-of-the-art iconic platform.

The entire movement of trains running on the section, can be recorded as a time stamp. This data is analysed to make the system more robust and efficient.