DMRC launches prototype of indigenously-made driver training system for Metro trains & railways
New Delhi: The Delhi Metro on Monday launched the first prototype of an indigenous Rolling Stock Driver Training System (RSDTS), a major step towards the indigenisation of technologies involved in operating the network and one that will allow for a large pool of skilled drivers to be trained that may even feed the global requirement, officials said.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, in association with the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), also demonstrated the functioning of a Super Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, which is being developed as a monitoring system for equipment and assets to "rationalise maintenance periodicity, manpower requirement and spares management," the DMRC said.
Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs secretary and DMRC chairman Durga Shanker Mishra launched the RSDTS and also witnessed a demonstration of the Super-SCADA system in the presence of DMRC MD Mangu Singh and other senior officials of the DMRC and the BEL, the Delhi Metro said in a
statement. This system will also be used for evaluating the driving skills of a working train operator, which is done periodically for safety considerations, it said. So far, this product was being imported by the DMRC from foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEM) at a high cost.
The RSDTS being developed indigenously allows the same core software to be utilised for creating different combinations of rolling stock, signalling and line profiles, by merely changing the input data files, along with minor hardware changes in the driving desk, if so required. This will enhance the flexibility of the training system and result in major cost saving for the DMRC, the statement said.
The training system will have "far superior features" than those available today. It will be scalable to meet future requirements. This product will have utility in other metros and railways.
The DMRC also has an ambitious plan to go digital for all its maintenance needs. At present, several stand-alone solutions are already available at the equipment and system levels, the officials said. However, the DMRC desires to integrate all of them through a digital platform. With this aim, another MoU was signed.
As part of this initiative, a decision support system for various levels of management is being developed, besides transition towards a predictive maintenance regime from the conventional periodic maintenance regime using artificial intelligence and machine learning, the statement said.
