Cover Story

Transport does not have to be defined. The history of public transport most probably dates back to the invention of the wheel or to the floating of wood on water. It can be argued that the first means of multi-customer transporting included people, animals and goods.

Since ages, it’s been interesting to note that a good transportation system has always been accompanied with a good information system. Primarily man developed and used transport facilities for his personal needs. It gradually grew and as per the requirement man tried to make it more comfortable and luxurious.

Transportation system in public domain or public transportation system grew parallel. It was more on the govt’s part. And as a welfare society the government ensured development of public transportation system for mass movement of its citizens for their livelihood, safety, etc. The other side of the development of the transport system definitely was business.

The transport system appeared to be a huge business option for most of the people who had transport facilities greater than their personal needs. It could earn revenue for them from those who were not having it. The system grew and more and more transportation vehicle started appearing on the roads, passages and travelling destinations.

The government’s role for development of mass transportation facilities started to be felt with growing population, rapid urbanization and technological advancement. Today availability of transport facilities is one of the important indicators of growth and development of an economy.

The four means of transportation today are Rail, Road, Air and Water. Road and Water has been primitive forms of transportation by humans while transportation through rail and air has been possible due to science and technology. Today significant development has been made in Rail and Air transportation. Transport facilities like metros and Urban Rapid Transit system is making significant contribution to eco-friendly public commuting across the globe.

IT&S (MIS) – An Introduction

As already stated for any transportation system to develop and function properly a well developed Information Technology & Systems - ITS (or Management Information System – MIS) is required predominantly. It has been since ages that the information system has been an integral and coherent part of any transport system. Be it machine or animals no transportation can be done until there’s is proper exchange of messages, signals and information.

The terminological exchange done in primitive times has now developed into a more modernized and sophisticated means of communication in form of signals and digital messages communicated to machines which earlier were done through voice, symbols, gestures and cognitive messages.

It is important to note that Intelligent Transport System that we see today is basically a general referral to the Information Technology & Systems (ITS), Management Information System adopted to make any existing and prevailing transport system modern, smart and technologically advanced. Hence, ITS (Information Technology & Systems) and MIS (Management Information System) form the base of an Intelligent Transportation System. MRTS (Metro Railway Transport System) being one of them.

Image Credit : Alstom Transport

MRTS (Metro / Subway Rapid Transit System) - A brief Summary

The International Association of Public Transport (or UITP) defines metro systems as an urban passenger transport system operated on their own right of way and segregated from general road and pedestrian traffic.

The terms Heavy rail (mainly in North America) and heavy urban rail are essentially synonymous with the term metro. Heavy rail systems are also specifically defined as an electric railway.

The dividing line between metro and other modes of public transport, such as light rail and commuter rail is not always very clear. While, UITP only makes distinctions between metros and light rail, the U.S.’s APTA and FTA distinguish all three modes. A common way to distinguish metro from light rail is by their separation from other traffic. While light rail systems may share roads or have level crossings, a metro system runs, almost always, on a grade-separated exclusive right-of-way, with no access for pedestrians and other traffic. And

in contrast to commuter rail or light rail, metro systems are primarily used for transport within a city, and have higher service frequencies and substantially higher passenger volume capacities.

The name of the system is not a criterion for inclusion or exclusion. Some cities use metro as a brand name for a transit line with no component of rapid transit whatsoever. Similarly, there are systems branded light rail that meet every criterion for being a rapid transit system. Some systems also incorporate light metro or light rail lines as part of the larger system under a common name. These are listed, but the light rail lines are not counted in the provided network data. Certain transit networks match the technical level and service standards of metro systems, but reach far out of the city and are sometimes known as S-Bahn, suburban, regional or commuter rail.

Each rapid transit system consists of one or more lines— each line is a specific route with trains stopping at all or some of the line’s stations. Most systems operate several routes, and distinguish them by numbering, names and colors. Some lines may share track with each other, or operate solely on their own right-of-way. Often a line running through the city centre forks into two or more branches in the suburbs, allowing a higher service frequency in the centre.

The capacity of a line is obtained by multiplying together the car capacity, train length and service frequency. Heavy rapid transit trains might have six to twelve cars, while lighter systems may use only three or four cars. Cars have a capacity of 100 to 270, varying with the seated to standing ratio—more standing gives higher capacity. The minimum time interval between trains is shorter for rapid transit than for mainline railways owing to the use of block signalling.

Mass Rapid Transit System in India

Rail based Mass Rapid Transit System is growing and developing at a fast pace in India. With a need to provide alternative, eco-friendly and clean transportation system to an ever increasing population, the government of India is making significant strides in development of urban mobility and transport environment. With a modest start the rail based mass rapid transit system in the country has reached to a large network of approximately 800 operational km catering to nearly 10 million passengers. Additionally, more than 900 km metro network is under construction.

Various initiative like AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), Smart Cities Mission has also been taken by government to develop cities in India and cater to the need of rapidly growing urban population. The ultra modern transport facility is developed in parallel. Regional Rail, Metro Rail, LRT (Light Rail Transit), Tramways, Busways and Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) are priority projects in the country aimed to improve the transportation facility for commuters significantly.

The Urban Rail Transit systems like Metro Lite, Metro Neo, Monorail is also being developed and shall help in the growth and development of the country.

Planning, Design and Implementation of ITS/MIS for Metro System

Urban Rail, popularly referred to as Metro Rail, has seen substantial growth in India in the recent years. More cities are experiencing the need for metro rail to meet their day-to-day mobility requirements. Most of the metro rail projects have been financed by the central government in partnership with the state governments, while some have been funded by the state governments either on their own or with private partnership. Metro rail projects provide high capacity public transit and are capital intensive. However, considering the rapid urbanization and the imminent need for enhancing mobility in cities through metro rail, it is imperative to explore alternative and innovative sources of funds to supplement the budgetary resources. At the same time, it is also important to ensure that the proposals are prepared and appraised in a comprehensive manner to enhance urban mobility as well as the speed and quality of implementation of metro projects. It is in this context that the need for a policy on metro rail has been felt necessary to ensure that such systems are decided upon and implemented in the most sustainable manner from the social, economic and environmental perspectives.

The Metro system we see in the country today has been an outcome of gradual development of rail transportation for nearly over 150 years of its journey in the country.

There has been quite a few significant phases in the history of rail transportation in the country which has led to the growth and development of metro transportation we see today.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Major IT&S Projects of Indian Railways

1. Unreserved Ticketing System: UTS started in India with a pilot project in 2002 at Northern Railway. Today UTS accounts for nearly 90% of total tickets sold every day across the country with its implementation over 6000 locations. This has facilitated not only availability of ticket at all time replacing SPTM but also has helped in management of unreserved travel data.

2. Passenger Reservation System:

The Passenger Reservation System was started in India in year 1988-89. It facilitated way for reserved travel on rail berths in Indian Railways. PRS provides reservation services to nearly 2.2 million passengers a day on over 2500 trains running throughout the country. The PRS Application CONCERT (Countrywide Network of Computerized Enhanced Reservation and Ticketing) is the world’s largest online reservation application, prepared and maintained by CRIS.

3. Control Office Automation: The train operation over Indian Railways is monitored and checked through a Control office located in each Division. Earlier, the charting of train run was done by color pen and a scale with manual calculation of time, distance and other parameters. With an automation implementation the controller now only feeds the timings of passing a station and charting is done automatically. All performance parameters involving punctuality, average speed, GTKM, NTKM and PKM etc. are worked out immediately.

4. Freight Operation Information System: The Indian Railways carry more than 1.1 Billion metric tons of payload per year with nearly 9100 freight trains daily. The Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) was the first project, which CRIS embarked upon. In fact the creation of CRIS is a by product of this effort in the mid eighties. FOIS began as an diligence to track and monitor the movement of wagons, locomotives and unit trains. Now it is a complete management module for freight trains handling the billing and revenue collections as well.

5. Integrated Coaching Management System: ICMS manages nearly 77000 passenger coaches in the country. These coaches are meant to carry passengers across the nation through approximately 14 thousand passenger trains of Indian Railways. Such mass movement of passenger trains requires great precision and timing. The Integrated coaching Management System has made this daily exercise very simple with all performance parameters related to coaching operation worked out quickly facilitating improvement strategy.

6. National Train Enquiry System: NTES are integrated with ICMS to interface with passenger to communicate him passenger related relevant information such as current running, schedule timings, departure and arrival etc. This served the passenger knowing the running of train online and can avoid wastage of time at the station waiting for train running late.

7. Crew Management System: The crew of the train consists of a Loco Pilot, Assistant Loco Pilot and Guard. Crew works a trains from station A to B and then works back the train involving interchange from one division/zone to another. CMS has facilitated complete data management on system from signing on to off and all information on click of the mouse. This involved huge networking of 10-15 crew lobbies in each Zonal Railways.

8. Software Aided Training School: No Information technology can work effectively unless the user is trained to keep up and use the assets.

There are many other software introduced at zonal railways such as Material Management information system, PRIME and AFRESH etc. which looks after the material, personal and finance of the railway.

Additionally, few IT&S projects for Indian Railways viz; Maintenance Management, Freight Maintenance Management, Loco-Shed Management System, Workshop Information System, Track Management System, Signalling Maintenance Management System, Project Management are also being implemented as IT&S approaches.

Automation and Integration of Train Control Systems

In rail transport, the development of autonomous systems has been spectacular mainly in the area of in public transport services, such as: driverless metro lines, light rail transit (LRT), people movers, and automated guided transit (AGT). In these systems, automation refers to the process by which responsibility for operation management of trains is transferred from the driver to the train control system. In the over 30 years since the launch of the first Automated Metro Lines, the growth rate for driverless metro has doubled in each decade – an exponential growth that is bound to quadruple in the coming decade.

The use of GPS positioning and sensor systems is on a noticeable rise in order to increase safety at the crossing points. India too has developed an anti collision device called Raksha Kavatchm under the technology partnership between Konkan Railway Corporation and Kernex Microsystems (India) Limited, in order to provide safety at level crossing gate at minimal cost.

Radio based level crossing control system for the trains at medium routes (at a speed of 160km/hr approximately) for transmitting the signal to protect the level crossing, a rail- road collision avoidance system and method which utilizes impulse radio technology to effectively warn a person when there is a locomotive in their vicinity, a warning system for protecting pedestrian and motorist from approaching train which includes vehicle detector system for any vehicle stuck in an area of active train movement, display unit for warning messages are few examples which signifies use of IT&S and ICT for Intelligent Transport System in metro and railways.

Intelligent Transport System – An Overview

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are a suite of public transport planning, operations management and customer service applications that are enabled by advanced information and communications technologies. They act to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and usability of the public transport service offer to the benefit of public transport authorities, operators and passengers. Intelligent Transport Systems involve customized, situation-specific applications to address specific functions.

They utilize a mixture of proprietary and generic technologies for that purpose. They utilize multiple data sources, mostly in real time, and enable a direct affect on outcomes which are usually not possible without the ITS application.

The main application areas in conventional fixed route, fixed schedule urban passenger transport are:

•perations Management; • Driver Aids; • Fare Collection; • Traveller Information; • Traffic Management; • Security

ITS can be used to support other public

transport planning and business process functions for conventional public transport. They can also be used to support the unique needs of the operators and users of demand—responsive public transport.

Public transport ITS systems often interact with the ITS systems that support other urban transport modes (e.g. commuter rail, metro).

In general, ITS is comprised of a number of sub--systems and technologies, many of which support more than one application.

For example, Area Traffic Control (ATC) “smart” traffic signal systems can provide support to public transport priority or automatic public transport vehicle location applications.

The basic understanding of all aspects of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) for urban passenger transport related to improving both internal efficiency of public transport providers and the customer service is incorporated in an ITS toolkit which basically is a part of comprehensive library of reference and capacity building resources. The ITS Toolkit have been prepared by the WorldBank for policymakers and senior technical managers in urban transport.

The toolkit serves as a step by step guide that helps urban transport leaders, and the organisation they lead, to plan, design and implement ITS to improve the efficiency and attractiveness of the passenger transport system in their cities.

The intelligent transport system and its various applications incorporated in a comprehensive set of guidelines generally referred to as an ITS Toolkit provides capacity development support in understanding the following :

The basic characteristics of ITS

Evaluation of the public transport planning, management and operations functions in assessment of the needs of potential ITS applications.

ITS system inputs, outputs, information processing, communications and system architecture requirements

Estimation of the initial implementation and ongoing operating and maintenance It must be noted that the set of guidelines relating to the intelligent transport system i,e; ITS toolkit is designed to help the policy and investment decision makers in cities decide whether to introduce or enhance ITS applications in management of urban passenger transport or not. The ITS set of guidelines (toolkit) generally focuses on public transport. It does not seek to address the full domain of ITS applications for other modes such as the private car or freight transport. The applications covered in a ITS toolkit are based on the initial needs assessment relating to the functions that are applicable to the delivery and use of public transport systems. An indepth analysis to the set of guidelines or the toolkit gives an insight on the issues related to fare collection system.

It must be noted that the intelligent transport system (ITS) is a constantly developing sector, both in its applications and its technologies.

An intelligent transport system generally comprises of five components, with an interactive linkages of the components amongst each other –

• ITS Program Guidance – An ITS program guidance is the step-by-step process that should be followed for the Planning; Design; Implementation; and Evaluation of the proposed ITS system.

• Public Transport Functions – In public transport functions, the public transport planning, operations management and customer service activities that might be supported by ITS systems is considered at the strategic, tactical, operational, support and statistical levels.

• ITS Applications – ITS applications is the use of ITS for functions clustered as Operations Management, Driver Aids, Fare Collection, Traveller Information, Traffic Management, Security, Demand Responsive Transport and ITS facilitated functions.

• ITS Technologies – ITS technologies are technical systems and hardware required by ITS applications grouped as Automatic Vehicle Location, Driver’s Console, Operations Control Center, Driver Monitoring, Vehicle Monitoring, In-vehicle Data Hub and Processor, Electronic Fare Collection, Travel Information Displays, Surveillance Equipment, Vehicle Identification and Communications.

• Case Studies – In Intelligent Transport Systems case studies form an important component as it helps in ascertaining the impact of transport system in a particular area or city. It also helps in deciding the further course of action or future steps to be taken.

There are certain key considerations towards the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of an ITS system. It can be summarized as under:

1. Intelligent Transport Systems are not an end in themselves; rather they may be an important means for achieving a broader end. It is important to identify the goal(s) for the transport improvement program before examining the appropriateness of an ITS-led approach.

2. Intelligent Transport System does not mend a broken or poorly organized urban passenger transport system. It usually acts to enhance one that is already reasonably effective.

3. ITS is generally truly effective only when there is a willingness to change the organizational and operational procedures to take advantage of the opportunities being created. Using technology to do the same things as earlier makes little difference to the overall outcome.

4. ITS needs changes in operational procedures. Most often the potential of an intelligent transport system is visible when there are changes in operational processes. The full advantage of Intelligent Transport System in most of the cities has been seen in second or third implementation programs.

5. ITS is usually not cheap to implement. These may also not have an obvious direct financial return. ITS may assist many aspects of the business, though nad enhance the usability of the system and the customer experience so as to retain or increase ridership.

6. All Intelligent Transport Systems have an ongoing management and maintenance cost which may be quite significant. Unless there is an ability and commitment to meet these expenditures and capacity to do tasks effectively, an

ITS program should not be implemented or must be simplified.

7. Intelligent Transport Systems are often easier to fund in the public sector, where returns may be evaluated against economic as well as financial criteria. However, the opportunity cost should be assessed against other local expenditure priorities, especially when resources are constrained.

8. Successful implementation of an ITS program needs security and confidentiality. Hence, steps should be taken to develop own technical and management capabilities.

9. It is very difficult to impose intelligent transport systems on private operators unless there’s is a potential of direct financial returns visible to them. ITS programs focussed on control of operators are unlikely to prove any greater sustainability than similar enforcement measures in the sector.

10. Electronic fare collection may prove to be the Intelligent Transport System with the highest financial return. Any success in this domain could both act as a technical platform and provide funding support for future programs.

Planning, Design and Implementation

As stated above the five main sections of an Intelligent Transport System are :

1. ITS Program Guidance 2. Public Transport Functions 3. ITS Applications 4. ITS Technologies 5. Case Studies

ITS Program Guidance – The ITS Program Guidance is designed to assist stakeholders who face decisions about deployment of ITS in Urban Passenger Transport. Here the primary audience is the policy makers, investment decision makers and managers of transport authorities and transport operators. However, it is also useful to many other stakeholders.

An ITS project is not just a technology project. Its deployment can have significant impacts throughout the organisation. It needs to be viewed from the outset as a corporate project. The design of any ITS system should respond to clearly-stated needs of the transport authority or the operator. It is important to note that all the key policy-makers and senior managers of the transport authority are needed to be involved at every stage, especially at the project formulation stage.

The intelligent transport system for urban passenger transport especially metros consists of a wide range of systems including :

• Operations management systems and control centers • Traffic signal priority • Fare collection systems • Real time traveller information systems and journey planners • Demand responsive transport support systems • Driving and driver support systems • Driver and vehicle monitoring systems • Safety and security systems • Planning and resource management

This Guidance is structured according to the three main phases of an ITS deployment project, plus an often forgotten fourth phase (Evaluation):

• Planning • Design

Image Credit: Siemens

• Implementation • Post-implementation monitoring and Evaluation

Each of the four phases is elaborated at two levels. The first level provides concise Guidance, highlighting key actions and messages. The second level provides more detailed guidance on each of the 19 different Guidance themes.

The Guidance is structured as follows:

1. Planning – The basic questions dealt under planning stage are :

(a.)What are the goals for ITS (b.)What approach to take? (c.) Is ITS the right route? (d.) What must the system do? (e.)What types of ITS applications be incorporated?

2. Design – The questions taken up in design stage are :

(a.)What technology will it need? (b.)What platform will it need? (c.)What data would be required? (d.)What other sources the ITS would require? (e.)What else the technology, data and resources can be used for? (f.) How would the business processes need to change to take full advantage? (g.)What would be the total cost incurred in the project?

3. Implementation – The various issues studies under this stage are:

(a.) Supply chain for the needed system (b.)Installation or functioning of the system in respective working environment (c.) Deployment of the system (d.) Making good use of the system

4. Evaluation – Under evaluation stage following is taken into consideration:

(a.) Pre-implementation metrics (b.) Post- implementation monitoring (c.) Evaluation

5. Case Studies – The case studies of successful implementation of ITS in a number of countries like Ghana, Philippines, Switzerland etc. give a learning note.

After the planning and evaluation stage the public transport functions of an ITS program are taken into consideration. The public transport function is generally organized into five parts :

1. Strategic Context 2. Tactical Planning 3. Service Delivery 4. General Support 5. Statistical Analysis

The Strategic Context deals issues like ITS planning context, general public transport characteristics, funding and cost recovery, economic regulation, role of public and private sectors and Institutional framework.

Network and modal planning, service planning and specification, service contracting and management, fares policy and practice, external communications are the subject areas under tactical planning stage.

The service delivery studies issues like vehicle and crew scheduling, preparation of vehicles for duty, performance of service delivery, control of service delivery, managements of incidents, fares collection, traveller information, security and customer services. In the general support section topics like traffic and demand management, public transport priorities, operations control centre, system payment management, vehicle maintenance, inventory management, fleet renewal, environmental program, infrastructure maintenance, operator enterprise management, operator collective management, human resource and development, ICT and ITS system support and external communications are studied The Statistical analysis deals with issues like legal and service compliance, financial accounting and reporting, consumption and monitoring and incident analysis.

So, we can summarize an IT&S (MIS) enabled Intelligent Transport System functioning in following areas and improving the transportation system 1. Operations Management – The various activities accomplished are :

• Automatic Vehicle Monitoring • Route Condition Monitoring • Schedule Adherence Support • Service Contract Compliance • Driving Standards Compliance • Emergency/Incident Management • Dynamic Rescheduling

Image Credit: DMRC

2. Driver Aids

• Scheduled Adherence Support • Collision warning and avoidance • Precision Docking • Economic Driving Assistance • Vehicle Condition Monitoring • Passenger Surveillance

3. Fare Collection

• Travel sales and Payment • Fare calculation and charging • Travel authorization and evidence • Interchange/Transfer authority • Interchange/Transfer rebate • Revenue accounting and distribution

4. Traveller Information

• Traveller information on PC/Internet • Traveller information on phone/PDAs • Real-time information at stations/ terminals • Real-time information at bus-stops • Real-time information in vehicles • Vehicle-stop announcement • Dynamic journey planners • Alert Services • Emergency/incident advice 5. Traffic Management

• Traffic Signal Priority • Access control • Interface with adaptive traffic control systems • Public transport lane/ facility violation monitoring

6. Security

• In-vehicle surveillance • At-station surveillance • Running-way surveillance • Infrastructure/facility surveillance

7. Demand Responsive Transport

• Bookings and Reservations • Traveller Assignment • Route optimization • Customer pick-up/drop-off management • Revenue recovery and administrative management

8. Automatic Vehicle Monitoring

• Automatic Vehicle location • Driver’s console • Operations control Center

9. Driver Monitoring

• Driving hours and rest periods • Driver inputs and dynamic outputs

10. Vehicle systems monitoring

• Passenger boarding and loading • Fuel-usage rate • Technical status

11. In-vehicle data hub and processor

• In-vehicle data hub and processor

12. Electronic Fare Collection

• Automatic Vehicle Location • Smart-card and card recharger • Smart-card validation and display • SMS or bar-code on smart phone • Bar-code reader

13. Traveller Information Displays

• Public Displays on vehicles • Voice announcement systems • Infotainment systems • Personal display on smart-phone or PDA • Public display at terminal and stop

14. Surveillance Equipment

• Static Video Cameras • Remote Controlled Video Cameras • Digital Video (loop) recorder • Computerized image processing

15. Vehicle Identification

• Automatic number plate recognition • Vehicle intelligent tag/transponder

16. Communications

• Between the vehicle system • Vehicle to and from control centre • Vehicle to and from stop shelter • Vehicles to traffic signal or AWTCS • Data download from vehicle • Data communication between facilities

Conclusion

On the basis of above study we can conclude that the application of information communication technologies enables advancement in the field of transport and mobility security, increasing productivity in the area of various mode of transportation especially metros and rail transport. The application of intelligent traffic systems based on information communication technologies enables greater safety, more efficient and more reliable traffic conduction.

These systems include a wide range of wireless and wired communications based on information and electronic technology. Intelligent railway systems include a variety of technologies such as: informatics, telecommunications, e- commerce, etc. Based on the above, we conclude that the application of ICT (IT&S/MIS) leading to Intelligent Transport System contributes to:

1) Increasing the efficiency of metros and rail services, 2) Railway management, 3) Monitoring of traffic control including traffic circulation and traffic regulation, 4) Real time scheduling controls, 5) Reducing costs in rail, road and urban transport, 6) Increasing traffic flow, 7) Safety systems, 8) Reducing the negative effects of driving schedule, 9) Track maintenance.

The main advantage of using intelligent control systems is the ability to coordinate the actions of all participants in the transport system and realize various decision-making in the management, diagnostics and scheduling of electrified transport. Intelligent devices are controllers that have the interface to work in global networks as well as wireless networks, and are programmed to use artificial intelligence techniques.

Intelligent devices have the ability to collaborate with each other and coordinate their work to make better decisions.