What is SMART COACH ?
➡️The Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli has built a “Smart Coach,” which is currently stationed at the lHB platform and is equipped with the state-of-the-art sensors and a centralised computer to monitor the status of all sensors through a single window. The chairman of the Railway Board, Ashwani lohani, inspected the newly built “Smart Coach” at the Safdarjung Railway Station in the presence of Rajesh Agarwal, the general manger of the Modern Coach Factory, and Arun Arora, the principal chief mechanical engineer of the Northern Railway. lohani expressed his satisfaction on the newly turned out “Smart Coach”, built indigenously under the Make in India initiative. lohani said, “100 new such coaches are to be rolled out in the...
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near future.”
The new coach has a vibration based self-power harvesting sensor on the axle box which will predict the defects on the bearings, wheel defects and hard spot (defects) on the track. This will enable the railways to plan their maintenance on the accurate need-basis and will also eliminate line failures. The coach is fit with Passenger Information and Coach Computing Unit (PICCU) which will monitor the four important areas of coach maintenance and passenger interface namely, the coach diagnostic system; security and surveillance system; interface with other sub-system like air conditioning, disc-brake system, fire detection and alarm system, water level indicator and the GPS based passenger announcement and passenger information system and the digital destination board.
The passenger information system will inform the passengers about the current location of the train and the next station along with the expected time of arrival at the next station. This system can also show the speed of the train.
The water level indicator can give advance information to the maintenance staff through an SMS about the requirement of refilling.
The coach also has CCTVs with artificial intelligence capability which will enhance the security of the passengers and also monitor the behavior and activities of the railway staff on board. The footage will also help in investigation into any untoward incident during the journey and in identifying the culprits and in direct intervention from remote control centre.
The AC temperature can be monitored on run from a remote location and adjustments can also be done if required. The coach is also provided with the emergency talk-back system for communication between the passengers (especially woman and children) and the guard of the train so that necessary assistance can be provided. Wi-Fi hot-spot information system has also been made available for the passengers.
An additional cost of all systems and equipment is expected to be approximately Rs 12-14 lakh, which can be recovered in a year or so. The system of “Smart Coach” will help in switching from preventive maintenance to predictive maintenance of coaches and tracks. With this initiative, the maintenance requirement is expected to come down, become cost-effective and targeted maintenance can be planned in advance.