Chennai: It was a moment filled with pride for Golden Rock Workshop in Trichy when the first rake of BLL wagons fit with RFID and twin pipe air brake system were flagged off on its premises yesterday.
The senior-most employee of Wagon Production Shops, O K Rajendran, flagged off the first rake of BLL wagons. About 400 wagons were totally manufactured at the workshop and the first one was flagged off.
The workshop got orders from CONCOR (Container Corporation of India Ltd) for making 400 long container carrying wagons (BLL) worth Rs 132 crore. These wagons were modified with twin-pipe air brake system and RFID tags.
The sources say provision of twin-pipe air brake system will result in improved application and release of brakes and it would be easier for the driver to control the train, making safer operations.
It will also reduce the drag on the train, resulting in better fuel efficiency and reduced shuttling. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags are fitted for tracking of wagons to ensure effective and transparent functioning.
The tag designed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) with a life span of 25 years. RFID uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects.
The tags contain electronically-stored information. Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader’s interrogating radio waves. Unlike a barcode, the tag need not be within the line of sight of the reader, so it may be embedded in the tracked object.
While the RFID tag will be fitted in the rolling stock, trackside readers will be installed at stations and key points along the tracks to read the tag from a distance of about two metres and transmit the wagon identity over a network to a central computer.
In this way, each moving wagon can be identified and its movement tracked. Using RFID devices, it will be easier for the railways to know the exact position of wagons, locomotives and coaches. Currently, such data is maintained manually, which gives scope for errors.
Henceforth, it would be standard practice for all new wagons turned out from GOC shops to be equipped with RFID tags.
The Golden Rock Workshop, Trichy, is a pioneer in wagon production in Indian Railways, which has manufactured more than 40,000 wagons with 55 varieties from 1962. This workshop is one of the five major railway workshops in Indian Railways (Jamalpur, Amritsar, Samastipur, Hubli and Goldenrock) and the only workshop in Southern Railway engaged in this activity.
GGM (southern region, CONCOR) Abu Thakir, chief workshop manager of Golden Rock Workshop, P N Jha, were among those present during the flagging off ceremony.
Caption:
The senior most employee of wagon production shops at Golden Rock Workshop (Trichy) O K Rajendran is seen flagging off the first rake of BLL wagon yesterday.