UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM & ENERGY STUDIES DEHRADUN

Group Project

RAILWAY LOGISTICS (HEAVY HAUL TRAIN OPERATIONS)
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (MBCQ 721)
Submitted to: Dr. NEERAJ ANAND Associate Professor& HOD – QT/RM/Operations CMES Submitted by :
Name: AmolKhare Roll No: R600212004 Name: Ruchika Sahu Roll No: R600212039 Name: Rahul Kushwah Roll No: R600212031

MBA (LSCM)Sem II Batch 2012-14
Railway Logistics (Heavy Haul Train Operations). Page 1

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Our deepest thanks to, Dr Neeraj Anand, Associate Professor & HOD–QT/RM/Operations for College of Management and Economic Studies, as a guiding hand for us. He has taken pain to go through the project and also had spent time in giving necessary suggestions as and when needed. We would like to express our gratitude towards Mr R K Khare, Assistant Design Engineer, Track Department, of Research Design and Standard Organisation, Lucknow. Thereby our parents & classmates for their kind co-operation and encouragement which helped us in the completion of this project framework. We would like to express our special gratitude and thanks to industry persons for giving us such attention and time. Our thanks and appreciation also goes to the colleagues in developing the project and people who have helped us out with the different aspects of this Project.

Date: 23, April 2013

Names: Amol Khare Rahul Kushwah Ruchika Sahu

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INDEX
Sr. No. Topic Page No.

1.

Introduction

5 5 5 6 7 12 16 16 16 17 17 18 18 18 19 20 20 22 23 24 24 24 25 28

1.1. Background 1.2. Need for Research 1.3. Business Problem 2. Review of Literature

2.1. Summary 3. Statement of Proposal

3.1. Research Gap 3.2. Research Problem 3.3. Research Objective 3.4. Under Study Variables 4. Research Methodology

4.1. Research Design 4.2. Theoretical Framework 4.3. Hypothesis 4.4. Scope of Study 4.5. Source of Data 5. Indian Railways and Dedicated Freight Corridor 5.1. Integrated Railway Modernization Plan – Freight Business 5.2. Dedicated Freight Corridors 5.3. Major Constraints on Existing Rail Network 5.4. Need for Dedicated Freight Corridor 5.5. Salient Features of the DFC 6. Experience Of World Railways Systems For Running Heavier Axel Loads With Reference To Indian Railways 6.1. Burlington Railways 6.2. Hamersley Railway

29 29

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6.3. Fortescue Railway 6.4. Sweden Railway 6.5. Union Pacific Railway 6.6. Use of Experience of World Railways by Indian Railways 7. Detailed Description of the Corridors

30 30 31 31 32 32 34 37 39 41 47 48 51 53 54 55 56

7.1. Eastern Corridor 7.2. Western Corridor 7.3. Project Phasing 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Assessment of Axel Load for Freight Corridor Design of Track for 30T Axel load Sustainability of Section Innovative Track Design Track Maintenance Standards Recommendations Conclusion Future Scope Annexure 1 References

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1. Introduction To meet the future freight traffic demands some of the options available are to increase the throughput by improvement in design of wagon having better pay to tare ratio, rationalization of movement, running of long haul trains by clubbing freight trains; to haul them to a common destination and then to bifurcate them and take them to the destination points etc. The above options increase the line capacity and throughput and one of the options giving significant gain is running of long haul train operation. 1.1 Background The Indian economy entered the tenth plan with an expectation of 6% to 7% annual growth in the GDP and consequently 7.2% to 8.0% growth in the transport sector. These expectations placed heavy demands on the already saturated road and rail transport system which coupled with the inadequacies in the power sector posed a major constraint in the realization of the projected economic growth. With airways, coastal shipping and inland waterways being in the fringes, freight transport in India is basically shared between road and the rail sectors. The road network in India has grown from 4 lakh km in 1951 to over 30 lakh km now, second largest in the world. Post independence, Indian Railways (IR) made a flying start almost doubling the transport output in the first 5-Year Plan. There was, however, a perceptible slowing down from 1968 to 1980 followed by a revival in the last two decades climaxing to introduction of heavier axle load trains (22.82 tones) on certain routes on IR with effect from May, 05. 1.2. Need for Research       Freight traffic on IR has grown 90 times from 5.5 to 500 billion tone km from 1951 till now. Passenger traffic on IR has grown 80 times from 23 to 1800 billion passenger km in the same period. National and state highways comprising only 8% of the road network carry 80% of the traffic IR’s share of freight traffic has declined from 89% in 1951 to 38% now. Golden Quadrilateral road network and induction of multi axle road vehicles will further make a serious dent on the share of freight traffic carried by railways. Even heavy bulk freight may not remain the exclusive preserve of the IR.

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1.3. Business Problem We are in transport business. Trailing loads and operating speeds are our principal efficiency indicators. Within the limitations of a loop length of 686 meters and the existing track loading density of 8.25 tones per meter, the options for enhancing transport capacity of IR are as under: Introduction of higher axle loads  Increasing number of axles per wagon Even though about 12% higher throughput with 22.82 tones axle load and about 23% with 25 tones axle load could be achieved, yet track loading density increases to 8.51 tones/m with axle loads of 22.82 tones and 9.33 tones/m with 25 tones axle load. Since rail wear is already a matter of concern, it may be aggravated by higher axle loads. Higher operating speed may not be possible with higher axle loads. Increase in number of axles in a wagon means redesigning and revamping the fleet of wagons which is cost intensive and immediate solution is not possible. Therefore, to carry more traffic cost effectively, IR went for the option to introduce higher axle load trains being run with certain type of wagons (BOXN) and carrying bulk consumables like iron ore and coal. Current loading standards for bridges (MBG 1987) permit axle loads up to 25 tones in case of locos and track loading density of 8.25 tones/m. The trailing loads of 8.25 tones/m translate into trailing axle loads of 20.32 tones at the wheel spacing as in BOX-N wagons. With introduction of higher axle loads of 22.82 tones, IR has been poised into a select group of Heavy Haul Railways. This would be the stepping stone for moving ahead towards the regime involving 25 tones axle loads and track load density of 9.33 tones/m on the existing network without any hiccups. The axle loads running on the Heavy Haul routes of American, Australian, China and other advanced Railways are ranging from 30 to 40 tones. However there is major difference in scenario prevailing on Indian Railway as unlike the other Railways where heavy haul freight trains run on a dedicated heavy haul lines, in Indian Railways same infrastructure has to carry both goods and passengers traffic. Golden Quadrilateral and its two diagonals constituting 16% of route km (25% of running track km) carry 55% of passenger and 65% of freight traffic of the IR and are saturated on most lengths.

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2. Review of Literature The world’s heaviest and longest freight trains run in Australia. With a payload of 82,000 tones and gross load of 99,734 tones, the train is formed of 682 wagons, hauled by eight 6000 HP diesel locomotives. AUSTRALIA (BHP/Billiton (Western Australia) Hammersley (Western Australia) Robe River (Western Australia) In north-west coast of Western Australia a large mining company, BHP Billiton, operates a private heavy haul railroad. This company tested the operation of the world's longest and heaviest train in June 2001 with one driver, eight locomotives, and 682 wagons carrying 82,262 tones of iron-ore, the 7.4km-long train, thereby demonstrated the quest for more efficient rail operations in Western Australia's Pilbara region. It is moving tonnages that were unimaginable just a decade ago.BHP Billiton is operating the world's longest and heaviest trains, each consisting of up to 336 wagons. Quite frequently, trains are made up of three separate consists that are coupled together and operated by one driver - each consist is roughly 106 ore cars with two or three locomotives. As each consist is roughly 1 kilometer long (or 0.6 of a mile), the total train length is in the region of 3 kilometers (or 1.8 miles). These massive trains are used to transport iron ore from mines located about 220 miles inland to the south. The single driver controls the lead loco on each consist with a Locotrol distributed power setup. The company hauls iron-ore over its two lines viz 426km trunk route from Port Hedland to Newman with branches to Area C, Mount Whaleback and Jumblebar 210km line from Port Hedland to Yarrie. All train movements are managed from the traffic control centre at Port Hedland. Specialized computer hardware and digital communications powered by solar technology support the signaling system, and automatic train protection (ATP) has been installed to enhance safety on BHP Billiton's lines. The other established iron-ore rail operator in the region is Pilbara Iron, 100% ownership of Hammersley iron and 53% ownership of Robe River Iron Associates were acquired by Rio Tinto mining group. This Rio Tinto mining group integrated these two into Pilbara Iron for the purpose of mining, rail and port operations. However the two companies retained ownership of their respective assets, including track, locomotives and rolling stock. Pilbara Iron operates an 1100km network, which serves 10 mines and two ports: Cape Lambert and Dampier. The former separate railways are now connected to provide greater operational flexibility.Pilbara Iron's single-driver trains comprise more than 230 wagons, weigh 29,500 tones and are 2.4km long. The company has the capacity to haul over 130 million tones of ore each year.

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Fortes cue Metals Group is the third player, to establish rail operations in the Pilbara region. Fortes cue plans to operate 30,000-tonne, 2.5km-long trains, which will be powered by a fleet of 15 Dash 9-44CW 3275kW diesel locomotives. Queensland Railways – This Railway was all built as narrow gauge lines, 1067 mm (3' 6") gauge, commencing in 1865 with a line extending from Ipswich to the small town of Grandchester (then known as Bigge's Camp), 25 km to the west. Railways subsequently spread inland from the east coast ports of Brisbane, Maryborough, Bundaberg, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Mackay, Bowen, Townsville, Cairns and Cooktown. These lines (except for the Cooktown line) were connected down the east coast by the North Coast Line between 1888 and 1924. Many heavy haul coal lines were added, beginning in 1968. An electrified rail system was developed in Brisbane from 1979. Many of the heavy haul coal lines were electrified from 1986, as was the North Coast Line between Brisbane and Rockhampton, constituting Australia's only significant rural rail electrification. Unlike the freight railway systems in all other Australian States, QR remains in full State ownership, and private sector involvement in the operation of train services remains minimal. Pacific National, through subsidiary company Pacific National Queensland, is the only private operator to run freight trains on QR rails, hauling container traffic between Brisbane and Cairns. QR owns and operates a route network of 8,313 km (5,165 mile), of which some 1,000 km (621 mi) is electrified at 25kVAC. This the largest electrified network in the southern hemisphere; the backbone of the network, the North Coast Line from Brisbane to Cairns, is electrified as far north as Rockhampton, approximately 636 km (395 mi) north-west of Brisbane. Most of the lines used to transport coal from inland mines to coastal ports are also electrified. Many coal trains in Queensland are hauled by multiple locomotives, with remotely controlled locomotives(locotrol) in the middle. These trains are some of the heaviest in the world and can reach over 4 km (2 mi) in length. CARAJAS (Brazil) BRAZIL's Carajas Railway (EFC), an 892km 1600mm-gauge heavy-haul line, links mines in the Carajas area with a deep-water port at Ponta da Madeira near Sao Luis. It is owned by the iron ore mining company, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD). About 95% of this traffic is iron ore, while the rest includes pig iron, soya, fuel, and intermodal traffic. The traffic, over this single-track main line route comprising of mainly iron ore is presently 57 million tones and is expected to increase to 75 million tones very shortly. Brazil's heavy-haul Carajas Railway having 35 t axle load is being modernized. It is using the latest information technology, as well as using distributed power in its train consists. (Heavy Haul Freight)

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At present, EFC carries iron ore in unit trains of 240 wagons, each of 120 gross tones. These are usually hauled by three diesel locomotives, either GM-built SD40-2s or GE-built C307s. The latter are currently being upgraded from 2237kW to. 2685kW and in-cab microprocessor computers are being installed. Recently, the railway has been buying GE-built C44-9 locomotives which enable the 240-wagon trains to be hauled by only two locomotives. To carry this quantum of traffic and to cater to the future needs EFC has opened central command post (CCP) in Sao Luis. EFC is also installing a communications-based train control system (CBTC). The keys features are: CCP provides train controllers with a view of the entire line. Computers installed in the locomotives give drivers a clear view of the section of line being traversed. The driver knows track occupancy and the status of signals up to two passing loops ahead or one passing loop ahead and one behind--there are 48 passing loops on the line. Previously, drivers had to slow down as they approached each yard area until they could see a green signal. Approaching curves and gradients are also displayed in the cab allowing the driver to optimize operation. The CCP uses much off-the-shelf technology based on UNIX and Windows. New generations of automatic train control (ATC) are being installed. Besides ATC's traditional function of stopping a train in an emergency, the new system will keep all trains in permanent contact with the CCP and enable the CCP to monitor the performance of trains. The next stage will enable trains to be rescheduled as often as necessary every time there is an interruption or an event that may have an impact on normal scheduled trains, a job that is done manually at present. Train rescheduling will then be done every time interference in the schedules occurs, and will be made far more accurately This will enable EFC to increase the number of iron-ore trains from eight to 12 a day in each direction. Each train will have 240 wagons, each with a gross weight of 120 tones (Ref: Carajas Railway upgrades train control: International Railway Journal, Sept 2003). SOUTH AFRICA Transnet Freight Rail (formerly known as Spoornet) is the largest division of Transnet. Transnet Freight Rail’s core competency is in the transportation of freight, containers and mainline passengers on rail. It is made up of six businesses, namely:  GFB Commercial  COALlink  Orex  Luxrail  Shosholoza Meyl Spoornet International Joint Ventures
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The company maintains an extensive rail network across South Africa that connects with other rail networks in the sub-Saharan region, with its rail infrastructure representing about 80% of Africa's total. Orex is a Spoornet specialist business unit dealing with the transport of iron ore over the 861km railway line from Sishento Saldanha. Orex is now a recognized international leader in providing world-class, heavy-haul logistics solutions for a growing market. COALlink is a specialist business unit that provides world-class transport for South Africa's export coal from the Mpumalanga coalfields to the Richards Bay coal terminal. It is one of the world's most efficient bulk export logistic supply chains, and its steam-coal export tonnage is second only to Australia’s. South Africa has two important heavy haul routes namely  861km Sishen-Saldanha  Richard's Bay coal line The two heavy-haul lines vary greatly in character, due mainly to the very different geography of the areas traversed. The Sishen-Saldanha line, serving two neighboring mining clusters, runs almost entirely downhill through near-desert, with few gradients against loaded trains, the steepest being 0.4%. The sharpest curves have a radius of 1000m, of which there are only three. The entire line, single track throughout with 10 passing loops controlled by CTC, was purpose-built. This line currently carries 29 million tones per annum and the target is to carry 41 million by 2009-10. Richard’s Bay Coal Line by contrast, starts in an extensive, dispersed mining area. Trains operate over 327km of conventional lines via Ermelo to Vryheid. The 160km VryheidEmpangeni (near Richard's Bay) section was built in the late-1960s. It was designed for general freight and passenger traffic, and was upgraded in the mid-1970s to carry heavy coal trains. The average round trip is about 1000km, Spoornet's COAL link operations cover a complex northwest-southeast corridor from the most distant mine at Grootegeluk, about 50km from the Botswana border to the Indian Ocean port of Richard's Bay. The core is the dedicated 25kV AC Ermelo-Richard's Bay line, which is linked to the mines by 25kV, 3kV DC and diesel-only general freight lines. COAL link uses only two types of wagons: Smalls with a capacity of 58 tones and Jumbos with a capacity of 84 tones. The Sishen-Saldanha line is an ore line whose original design capacity was 18 million tones per annum, using 210-wagon air-braked trains, 2.2km long with a gross weight of 21,840 tones hauled by three class 9E electric locomotives. On the current 216-wagon trains, the coupler force required is 1300kN. This allows little margin for deviation, as the maximum coupler force permitted is 1600kN. Secondly, in terms
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of the pneumatic direct-release train braking system, a maximum of 2300m of brake pipe is allowed for the brake demand to reach the end of the train. Trains currently operate at this limit; to add additional wagons could compromise safety and reliability. The adoption of distributed power, with locomotives spaced throughout each train, would overcome current limitations imposed by the braking system and coupler forces. To test this strategy, Spoornet successfully operated a train 3.9km long with a payload of 34,300 tones in August 2004, using manned locomotives, in voice-radio contact, mid-train. AMERICA Heaviest regularly operated loaded trains in the western U.S. are 135-car coal trains from the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. Standard load is 143 gross tones per car (120-122 net depending on whether the cars are rapid discharge or rotary dump only), with up to five SD70ACe and/or ES44AC (or SD70MAC or AC4400CW) per train, configured front and rear. A common arrangement for heavy grades is 3x2 (three lead, two shoving), the rear units. The next threshold length is 150 cars, which is expected to run regularly in a few years time from the Powder River Basin. Heavier adverse gradient require an additional locomotive configured as 2x3x1 e.g. UP's Moffat Tunnel Subdivision has an adverse ruling gradient of 2%. Coal train comprising of 105 car (143t per car) running on this section are run with configuration of locomotives as 2x3x1. Heavy-haul in the U.S. shares almost all routes with other traffic that has different service criteria such as higher speed. Critical limitations on greater length for heavy haul trains in the U.S. are siding and crossover spacing, adverse grades, congested urban areas, and terminals. Depending upon the route, adverse grades against loads for heavy-haul trains in the western U.S. are as steep as 2.4% (Soldier Summit), and grades in the 1.2-1.5% range lie across many heavy-haul routes (e.g., Rich Mountain, Crawford Hill). Tractive effort requirements are accordingly two to three times greater to overcome gravity. CHINA At present, Chinese heavy haul transport technology has reached the world advanced level. 5000 to 6500 tons freight trains are running on Beijing-Harbin Railway, Beijing-Shanghai Railway, Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, Longhai Railway, Houyue Railway, and other major routes, expanding the transportation capacity. Establishing and perfecting DatongQinhuangdao railway transport system, using advanced locomotive synchronous control technology and large-tonnage vehicle manufacturing technology, achieving the combination between locomotive wireless synchronization control technology and GSM-R technology, these mark that Chinese Heavy Haul Transport Technology levels have been substantially elevated. Datong-Qinhuangdao railway opened 10,000 tones and 20,000 tones heavy haul trains, and the transport volume was increased from 100 million tones in 2002, to 300 million tons in 2007, creating the Heavy Haul Transport miracle in the world. Not only that, the goal
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Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway is still raising, in the future, its volume is supposed to reach 350 million tones or 400 million tones. 2.1. SUMMARY

2.1.1. The rich deposits of iron ore in Brazil, Australia and South Africa are being mined at record rates, and in India there are moves to expand iron ore production in Orissa. Driving these developments is China, where insatiable demand from steel producers is forcing the pace of iron ore production across the globe. Operators of iron ore lines on three continents are moving swiftly to raise capacity by expanding wagon and loco fleets, increasing axle loads and cutting mine-to-port cycle times and at the same time, managing assets to achieve higher productivity. The area for attention includes meticulous management of the wheel-rail interface. 2.1.2. Line Capacity constraints arising out of iron ore and coal traffic coupled with need to reduce operational cost resulted in the concept of heavy haul train operation. In this type of operation a number of trains are combined and operated as a single train. Thus for a predetermined quantum of traffic lesser number of train are required and throughput per train increases. This throughput per train further increases with increase in axle load. This concept resulted in the formation of International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA), a non profit, non political entity to facilitate and participate in the development or acquisition and distribution of knowledge germane to heavy haul railroad technology and operations. The IHHA is incorporated in the State of Missouri in the United States of America. The membership is open to any heavy haul railroad regardless of country of origin. 2.1.3. The precise definition of a heavy haul railroad as understood by the members of International Heavy Haul Association is when at least two of the under mentioned criteria are fulfilled:  Regularly operates or is contemplating the operation of unit or combined trains of at least 5 000 metric tones.  Hauls or is contemplating the hauling of revenue freight of at least 20 million gross tones per year over a given line haul segment comprising at least 150 km in length.  Regularly operates or is contemplating the operation of equipment with axle loadings of 25 tones or more.  Heavy Haul Railroad can be found in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Russia, South Africa and the USA. The iron ore Malmbanan in Sweden and Norway also falls into this category. 2.1.4. Internet search as a tool was used to get the details of the heavy haul operation details of leading world heavy haul operators. The details are summarized below:

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The railways listed, left to right are: 1.BHP/Billiton (western Australia) 2.Carajas(Brazil) 3.Hammersley (western Australia) 4.Robe River (Western Australia) 5.Spoornet(South Africa) 6.CVG FMO(Venezuela) 7.UP (Union Pacific,USA) 8.CN (Canadian National, Canada) 9.QR (Queensland Australia) 10.Westrail(Western Australia)

Figure 1: Million Net tone km of the leading heavy haul operating countries are given below

Country

Railway

Western Australia Western Australia Brazil South Africa

BHP/Billiton Hammersley

Commodity Route length (km) Iron Ore 636 Iron Ore 638 1089

Axle Load(t) 37.5 40 31.5

Length Load of of train train (t) (km) 3 41,000 2.4 29,500 28,800

Carajas Iron Ore Spoornet/Transnet Iron Ore

Sishen-Saldanha (Ermelo-Richard Bay Line) USA Union Pacific Queensland QR Australia China DatongQinhuangdao Rly

861 580

27.2

2.5

21,840 21,000 19,300 10,000 10,000

Coal Coal Coal

190 653

35t 15.75 to 26 25t

1.8 1.8

Table 1: Table Showing Country, Railway, length, Axle Load, Composition and loads of Heavy Haul

2.1.5. 32.5t axle load or more is operational in the under mentioned countries     North American Railroads Australia Canada CVRD Brazil (31.5 tones axle load)

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2.1.6. The pioneers of heavy train operation make use of Locotrol technology which was developed in the 1960s by an Ohio telephone and electronics manufacturer, North Electric Company. The technology was later purchased by GETS predecessor, Harris Controls. The electronics were mounted in a separate railcar, but has since been miniaturized into a "black box" with much of the functionality contained in software. Early Locotrol customers included Canadian Pacific and Australia's Queensland Rail. Today 20 companies use the system, with 5,000 systems deployed. From the 1980s Queensland Rail in Australia have used the system on coal trains, permitting the doubling in the size of trains without exceeding draw-gear strength, though the use of mid train locomotive West rail in Western Australia introduced Locotrol working in 1996, with equipment being retrofitted In April 2002 BHP Iron Ore in the Australian Pilbara set a record for the longest train with 682 ore cars and eight distributed GE AC6000CW locomotives in a 2-168-2-168-2-168-1-178-1 configuration. The Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway are major North American Locotrol operators. 2.1.7. The Key Plans and other peculiarities as noticed in the pioneering countries resorting to heavy haul train operation are summarized below:  BHP Billiton Iron Ore Railroad in the Pilbara: Average payload per wagon rose from 107 tones in 1996 to 115·6 tones in 2004 and the next target is 117 tones. The latest wagons are built to an aerodynamic design to reduce fuel consumption, a major consideration as oil prices rise. Other elements of a strategy to cut fuel consumption include higher axle loads and longer trains, a better wheel-rail profile and training drivers to exploit every opportunity for fuel savings. North America's Heavy Haul Railways: The 'technology enablers' that lie behind these improvements can also be found on North America's heavy haul railways. Better wagon design with lower weights and higher payloads are a key element, while CP Rail has developed low-stress wheel profiles and friction management of the rail head (Ref: Railway Gazette International 16th, April 2009 page 144). In South Africa, where the gauge is 1067mm, plans are in hand to raise capacity on the 560 km Richard's Bay line from 69 to 86 million tones a year. On the 861 km Sishen Saldanha iron ore route, which retains its unique 50 kV electrification, ore traffic is set to rise strongly above the current annual tonnage of 27 million. Spoornet successfully tested a 'mega train' 3·9 km long carrying a payload of 34,200 tones, pointing the way ahead. The Russian and Chinese Railways are working to raise train weights. Coal in China now represents 44·3% of rail freight traffic, and CR operated its first 20000 tonne train recently part of a plan to increase tonnage over the Datong - Qinhuangdao line. Opened in 1992, the 653 km line carried 103 million tones in 2002, and the figure for 2004 was 150 million. This year's target is 200 million tones, with operations being stepped up to permit 60 round trips a day. CR expects to adopt ECP braking, with high-strength rotary couplers used on the wagons to allow train weights and lengths to be increased. Chinese
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





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Railways is planning 30 tone axle loads. The Russian Railways is also aiming 30t axle load for parts of the Russian network, with 25 to 27 tones axle load as an intermediate step. Train weights are to rise from 9,000 to 12,000 tones, and locomotives are envisaged with an output per axle of 1200 to 1300 kW as part of a drive to increase the speed of freight trains to 100 km/h.

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3. Statement of Proposal 3.1. Research Gap The long haul train operation by clubbing two freight trains was experimented during the period from Feb.1986 to August’ 89 and again between May 1990 Upto March’ 92 over Eastern and Northern Railway to assess the infrastructural and other operational requirements for this type of operation. Consequent to this, decision to provide long loops was taken and long loops have gradually been constructed which will facilitate long haul train operation and through them precedence and crossing would become possible at time of need and the effect on the punctuality of passenger train operation would be minimized. The experience of running long hauls earlier do provide the basic essential requirement and the need of twin pipe/graduated release air brake system, provision of high tensile centre buffer coupler of 120t capacity, requirement of initial and on run operative cylinders on the BOXN wagon, effective communication between the drivers of the leading loco consist and the middle consist apart from the need for running the train on scheduled paths. The smooth operation necessarily depends on the synchronization of the actions of the leading and middle consists loco. A committee consisting of Adviser Planning Railway Board, COM/N.Rly, CME, E.Railway, C.E.L.E/S.E.Railway and E.D/Traffic RDSO was formed on the directives of Railway Board to study the gamut of long haul train operation. The said committee considered the relevant data, technical implications, results of earlier trials and after in-depth study recommended the essential requirements of running long haul trains. One of the recommendations was to confine the movement of this type of operation to movement of coal to Dadri Power house and to run this operation with WAG7 loco. 3.2. Research Problem  Increasing the axel load on the Dedicated Freight Corridor to 30 tones/axel load considering the feeder routes of the DFC to economize the overall project without much changes in the current Indian railway network The current Indian Railway infrastructure, be it DFC or the feeder routes, consist of 60Kg/90UTS Rails with 60 Kg sleepers placed at 60 cm distance for carrying the currently allowed 27.50 tones/axel load. This doesn’t allows 30tones/axel load to be implemented and a speed of 100 -110 Km/hr on the DFC.

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3.3. Research Objectives We basically focus on making a study on Logistics Efficiency of Indian Railways with the following objectives:  To make a comparison of Logistics Efficiency of Indian Railway with the railways of other countries. To study the role of RDSO in improving the logistics efficiency of the Indian Railway by carrying out some changes in the Track Design of the rail structure in a economical way to allow heavy haul train operations.

3.4. Under Study Variables The main study variables will include the study of impact of increased stresses due to higher axel loads.           Impact on Rails Rail fatigue life Impact on forces on curvature and track geometry Impact of wheel flat Impact on rail weld failures Impact on ballast and formations Impact on SEJ’s and turnouts Impact on maintenance of tracks Impact on bridges Effect on schedule of inspections

We will be considering only the impact on rails for the report formulation.

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4. Research Methodology 4.1. Research Design All three types of research design have been used in this report making. The report starts with the exploratory research by exploring the various facts and figures about the international railways and also includes the prospects having a dedicated freight corridor with 30 tones/axel load carrying capacity of the Indian Freight rail network. The descriptive research helps in detailing out the various parameters and variables needed for the solution for problem of running 30tones/axel load capacity freight trains on the dedicated freight corridor i.e. the Eastern Corridor and the Western Corridor. 4.2. Theoretical framework Detailed commodity-wise analysis of freight traffic carried in 2010-11 is as follows:

90% of freight traffic is from 8 major commodities i.e. coal, foodgrain, iron and steel, cement, POL, fertilizers, iron ores and other ores. Important type of wagons are BOXN, BRN, BOBR, BOBS, BCN and Tank. 60% of traffic is carried in BOXN wagons. Its carrying capacity is 58-60 tones and its pay load to tare ratio is only 2.35, which is very less when compared to international standard. Indian Railways has constructed dedicated freight corridors. Phase – I will consist of two corridors i.e. Western and Eastern corridors i.e. Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) to Tughlakabad/Dadri near Delhi and Ludhiana-Sonepur-Kolkata. Formation and bridges on DFC will be constructed for an axle load of 30 T and initially track will be fit for 25 T axle load which will be upgrade to 30 T as and when wagons and feeder routes are available for 30 T axle load operation. About 24 routes covering 4200 route km have been identified as feeder routes to these DFCs which will also be upgraded for running of 30 T axle load. Subsequently, four more dedicated freight corridors will be planned as follows:

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North – South East – West East Coast Southern

: : : :

(1800 km) (2000 km) (1500 km) ( 900 km)

In addition, about 25 routes covering about 7000 km have been identified on iron ore circuits which will be upgraded for 30 T axle load routes. Bhilai – Dallirajhara in SECR and Gua-Barazamda-Padapahar- Banspani-Daitari-Cuttack-Paradeep section in SER and ECR are being upgraded to introduce 30 T axle load within this financial year. Efforts are being also made to universalize CC+6+2 T. Field staff working on these enhanced axle load routes, especially on proposed 25 T axle routes has to be careful and alert. Both track and bridges should be kept under close monitoring. To assess the effect of higher axle load on track and bridges, one of the important requirements for 25 T axle load is grinding of rails. Indian Railways is already planning to procure two rail grinding machines. Till these machines are procured and commissioned, track should be monitored intensively with the help of USFD machines for any gauge corner fatigue crack. 4.3. Hypothesis A 30 tone axle load wagon carries almost 60% more commodity than does the conventional 22.32 ton wagon with only a marginal increase in the empty weight of the wagon. This results in an increase in the efficiency of rail freight movement due to an improvement in net/tare ratio. If wagons can be loaded more heavily without significantly increasing their tare weight, railroads stand to realize savings in: • Capital costs (fewer wagons needed to move a fixed volume of traffic). • Fuel costs (reduced tare weight means an improved ratio of net load to gross weight). • Crew costs (increased carrying capacity may permit a reduction in the number of trains operated). • Locomotive costs (if train net load can be increased within the same gross train weight, there is more revenue for the same locomotive mileage). In addition, longer track possessions will be possible with reduction in number of trains. Heavier wagons impose heavier axle loads on the track, which means more frequent maintenance and shorter track component life. The same is true for bridges. As a result, costs of maintenance and rehabilitation of track and bridges increase. Yet these increases in axle loads are attractive as the savings in operating and ownership costs are significantly higher than the increases in track costs. This is because heavier wagons move long distances on high-quality main line track, and each km traveled means additional savings.

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Many Railways in the world began to increase axle loads to provide more efficient and lower cost transportation of bulk commodities, about 50 years ago. Many systems, particularly North American Railroads, have introduced axle loads of 30 ton or heavier on their network, extensively. In some countries like South Africa, Australia and Brazil, such heavier loads have been implemented on certain identified routes either by upgrading an existing line or by constructing a new dedicated line. Indian railways, in order to meet the growing demand of traffic as also to reap the benefits of lower transport cost with heavier axle loads, have decided to construct two Dedicated Freight Corridors, in Mumbai – Delhi and Kolkata – Delhi Sectors. Standards for construction and maintenance for these are to be decided. Also, with the construction of these corridors, many sections of the existing network will be required to feed the corridor. These sections will, thus, be required to carry equally heavy axle loads and up-gradation strategies for them are to be chalked out. 4.4. Scope of the Study      Better net weight/gross weight ratio leading to better use of hauling capacity of engine. Increased line capacity, requiring less number of trains for hauling the same tonnage. This will also reduce the operational cost per unit tone of haulage. Fewer wagons will be needed to haul same load. This will increase the wagon productivity. This will also reduce the capital cost and wagon maintenance cost. Less number of trains will increase the terminal efficiency. Less requirement of locomotives for transporting the same amount of tonnage, which will reduce the loco maintenance cost and capital wit. This will also result in lower fuel consumption and less requirement of crews, thus saving highly precious fuel and manpower. Transportation by rail is considered as the most environment friendly means of transport. If we are able to increase our market share, and able to carry more freight by rail, we will be greatly contributing to better environment.



4.5. Source of Data Railway Board has approved many routes for taking up the pilot projects for running of higher axle loads on identified routes on South East Central Railways. These pilot projects are the major source of data. Further several trials are going to be conducted in the near future. One trail was scheduled in month of April, 2013. The results of this trial will be the primary source of data for our project work DURG- DALLIRAJHARA SECTION This route was approved in May 2005 for running of BOBS wagons with axle load of 25 tons. This line is about 88 kms. long and in a length of about 78 km. between Marauda and Dallirajhara BOBS wagons are running presently with axle load of 22.9 tons. This line carries iron ore from iron ore mines, which are situated on one end of the section to Bhilai Steel Plant
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situated on the other end of this line. Running of increased axle load of 25 tons on this section is yet to be commenced. JHARSUGUDA- KIRODIMAL NAGAR SECTION This section was approved in February 2007 for running of CC+8+2loaded BOXN wagons. This section of about 80 km. length is situated on Group ‘A’ route of Howrah- Mumbai. Running of increased axle load was commenced in April 2007 with iron ore traffic originating from Chakradharpur Division of South Eastern Railways. KORBA-CHAMPA-BILASPUR-ANUPPUR-NKJ SECTION This section was approved in February 2009 for running of CC+6+2 loaded BOXN/BOBRN wagons. This section of about 404 kms. Length is situated partly on Group ‘A’ route of Howrah- Mumbai and partly on other important routes. Running of increase axle load was commenced in April 2009 mainly with coal traffic originating from sidings near Korba in Bilaspur Division of S.E.C. Railway for further transportation to W. C. and other Railways. DUMRI KHURD- KANHAN- KAPERKHEDA/KORADI SECTION This section was approved in February 2009 for running of CC+6+2 loaded BOXN/BOBRN wagons. This section of about 50 kms. Length is situated partly on Group ‘A’ route of Howrah- Mumbai and partly consist of Assisted sidings. Running of increase axle load was commenced in April 2009 mainly with coal traffic originating from sidings near Dumrighurd in Nagpur Division of S.E.C. Railway for further transportation to two Power plants near Nagpur. JHARUGUDA- BILASPUR-DURG-NAGPUR SECTION This section was approved in June 2010 for running of 30 ton axle load. This section of about 615 kms. length is situated on Group ‘A’ route of Howrah- Mumbai. Running of increase axle load is yet to be commenced. Part of this route was sanctioned in the earlier sanctions for running of CC+6+2 and CC+8+2 ton wagons.

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5. Indian Railways and Dedicated Freight Corridor Economic liberalization policies of 1991 followed by information technology explosion have taken India to a new growth scenario. Backed by strong fundamentals and commendable growth in the past three to four years, the glorious Indian Economy is poised to grow even further at an average of 8 to 10% in the next 3 years. Transport requirement in the country, being primarily a derived demand, is slated to increase with elasticity of 1.25 with GDP growth by 10 to 12% in the medium and long term range. Riding on the waves of economic success, Indian Railways has witnessed a dramatic turn around and unprecedented financial turnover in the last two and a half years. This has been made possible by higher freight volumes without substantial investment in infrastructure, increased axle load, reduction of turn-round time of rolling stock, reduced unit cost of transportation, rationalization of tariffs resulting in improvement in market share and improved operational margins. Over the last 2 to 3 years, the railway freight traffic has grown by 8 to 11%, which is projected to cross 1100 million tones by the end of XIth Five Year Plan. Indian Railway is considered as lifeline of the country. It caters for not only the movement of large section of population from one part of the country to the other part, but it also plays vital role in economic growth of the country by transporting the goods either raw materials or finished products from one part of the country to the other part. In the early years of independence, the share of goods traffic carried by the railway was more than 75% and the roadways were carrying less than 25%. However, over the years, the road sector has improved tremendously due to constant budgetary support of around 14% of the plan outlay compared to around 8% for transport over the years and at present railway’s share has come down drastically to less than 25% i.e. situation has reversed completely in favor of the roadways. As we know, the freight traffic is the bread& butter of the Indian Railway, as passenger traffic is ever losing proposition. Therefore, it is necessary that the share of freight traffic carried by railway is enhanced substantially for the viability of the railway and its survival. The growth of the freight traffic can be divided into following three phases:1. Phase-I: 1950-1980 - when there was growth of less than 5 Million Tones per annum. 1. Phase-II: 1980-2000 – when the growth has been more than double i.e. between 12 -14 million tones per annum. 2. Phase-III: 1980-2000 - when the growth has gone beyond 15 Million Tones perineum. In fact in the 11thFive Year Plan (2007 - 2012), the growth has further increased and gone beyond 25 Million tones per annum. From the freight traffic carried by the Railway in the past years, it is seen that the growth in the earlier decades was lower. Up to 1980, the average growth rate was about less than5 Million Tones per annum, whereas in the remaining period of the 20thcentury increased growth of about around 13 Million Tones per annum was registered. Now the problem be fore the Railways is how to carry the increased traffic and how to cope up with
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the future challenges of increasing traffic. At present, the constraints before the Railways are following:1. Heavy traffic density route i.e. golden quadrilaterals are already saturated. 2. Mixed traffic routes resulting in lower average speed of goods trains about 25KMPHresulting in lesser output. 3. Lesser capacity of wagons. 4. Lesser axle load restriction on existing routes. 5. Moving dimension restriction on existing routes. Considering the above constraints, following improvements in the system is needed inorder to meet the challenge of increasing freight traffic:1. To expand the Railway network capacity. 2. To increase the average speed of goods trains. 3. To increase the capacity of freight stock. 4. To increase the axle load. 5. To disprove the service by reducing the running time. 5.1 Integrated Railway Modernization plan – Freight Business The formulation of the Integrated Railway Modernization Plan, “will ensure that the Railways not only sustain the current level of performance but are also able to cater to the growing demands of the passenger and freight traffic, provide modern and efficient services to millions of its customers and become a World Class Railway System in the foreseeable future.” The proposals, as far as freight traffic is concerned, are included under the following sixteen headings: (1) Running of freight trains at 100 Km/h on identified sections. (2) Completion of 75 throughput enhancement works. (3) Development of 40 Modern Freight Terminals. (4) Introduction of high axle load operation on selected routes. (5) Warehousing facilities near rail terminals through public/private participation. (6) Web based Claims Management System. (7) Extension of Freight Operations Information System to cover Terminal, Rake and Crew Management Modules. (8) Introduction of Double Stack Containers on identified routes. (9) Modernization of freight maintenance.
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(10)Introduction of corrosion resistant stainless steel body wagons. (11) Induction of lightweight aluminum wagons to increase carrying capacity. (12) Modernization of Guard’s brake-van to improve working condition of guards. (13) Provision of Bogie Mounted Brake System (BMBS) on freight stock to improve reliability and safety. (14) Development of Roll-On-Roll-Off (RORO) door to door service. (15) Locator for Diesel and Electric locos on identified sections. (16) Introduction of self-steering bogies to reduce stresses on track and rolling stock. 5.2 Dedicated Freight Corridor The Indian Railways’ quadrilateral linking the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Howrah, commonly known as the Golden Quadrilateral; and its two diagonals (Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Howrah), adding up to a total route length of 10,122 km carries more than 55% of revenue earning freight traffic of IR. The existing trunk routes of HowrahDelhi on the Eastern Corridor and Mumbai-Delhi on the Western Corridor are highly saturated, line capacity utilization varying between 115% to 150%. The surging power needs requiring heavy coal movement, booming infrastructure construction and growing international trade has led to the conception of the Dedicated Freight Corridors along the Eastern and Western Routes. A soft loan from Japan (expected to be of the order of Rs18700 crores) at 0.4%interest, repayable over a period of 40 years with a grace period of 10 years, was expected to cover 85% of the total cost of Rs.22000 crores estimated for the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata dedicated freight traffic corridor. The objectives reportedly are to increase the capacity for carrying 12000- tone trains from the existing 4000- tone freight trains and run freight trains at higher speeds. 5.3 Major constraints on existing Railway Network Under the present mixed traffic pattern, the Railways find it difficult to carry even the existing freight traffic efficiently, not to mention inability to promote future growth of traffic to meet the demands of a developing economy. The routes which are managed by multiple railway zones and divisions, suffer from severe bottle necks at key junctions. At present both passenger and freight services are run on the same track and there is a substantial speed differential between the two. Passenger trains are normally given preference in running. Also, while passenger trains run to a fixed schedule, freight trains have to find their passage in the left over slots resulting in their slowing down considerably. As a result, valued customer of freight services cannot be offered guaranteed schedule and transit times for their goods. 5.4 Need for Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) The growing demand in increasing freight transport capacity has led to the concept of tracks dedicated to freight services resulting in approvals for dedicated freight corridors along the Eastern and Western routes, in the first instance. The growing need for coal transportation to
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power plants all over the country, booming infrastructure construction and growing international trade require DFC. The broad objectives of the Dedicated Freight Corridor are: 1. Create additional rail infrastructure to cater to the increased levels of the transport demand. 2. Introduce timetabled freight services and guaranteed transit time. 3. Segregate freight infrastructure for a focused approach to both passenger and freight business of Railways. 4. Reduce unit cost of transportation by speeding freight train operations, increasing axel loads and improvements in productivity. 5. Increase rail share of freight market by providing customized logistics services. 6. Reduce emission of greenhouse gases by encouraging a modal shift from road o rail. The major benefits that are likely to accrue from DFC are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Congestion at terminals and junction stations can be minimized. Detention time at terminals will reduce. Higher fuel efficiency due to seamless and unhindered movement. Reduce emissions of Green House Gases. With double stack containers, the number of trains can be reduced by nearly half for the same through put. Release of line capacity on the existing corridor, which will fulfill unsatisfied passenger demands. This will also lead to faster movements of passenger trains. Reduction in operating staff costs due to fewer stations and higher speeds. Increase in through put due to higher axel loads. Unit cost of transportation will get reduced.

5.5 Salient Features of The Dedicated Freight Corridors: Dedicated Freight Corridors are proposed to adopt world class and state-of-the-art technology. Significant improvement is proposed to be made in the existing carrying capacity by modifying basic design features. The permanent way will be constructed with significantly higher design features that will enable it to withstand heavier loads at higher speeds. Simultaneously, in order to optimize productive use of the right of way, dimensions of the rolling stock are proposed to be enlarged. Both these improvements will allow longer and heavier trains to ply on the Dedicated Freight Corridors. The following tables provide comparative information of the existing standards on Indian Railways and the proposed standard for DFCC

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Upgraded Dimensions of DFC

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Upgraded design features of DFC:

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6. Experience of World Railway Systems for Running of Heavier Axle Loads with Reference to Indian Railways. The phrase “Heavy Haul” (HH) operation probably came into prominence with the first Heavy Haul Conference, held in Perth, Western Australia in 1978. Heavy Haul (HH) trains operate in some of the world’s most difficult conditions of terrain and climate, with rail temperatures up to 75 degrees C in North West Australia, down to minus 50 degrees C in Canada, and with annual ranges of up to 80 degrees C. Trains can be of 250 vehicles giving a trailing weight of some 30,000 tonnes and train lengths of more than 3 kms., with track curvature of 220m and grades of 2%. As back as in 1975-1980 , Heavy Haul trains were being operated in Africa, Australia, Brazil, North America, Europe and Scandinavian countries. Growth has been phenomenal in Heavy Haul Operations since then and in most of the developed nations, these Heavy Haul Trains are running as part of economical necessity. It is proposed to take case studies of few typical railways and discuss the various troubles faced by them as well as remedial measures in construction as well as operation/maintenance of these railways. It may be brought out that some studies of Heavy Haul trains relate to earlier years. Though there has been lot of technical developments since then, yet some of the problems brought out in earlier days are still relevant in present day context. The case studies discussed in the paper for running of Heavy Haul trains in different countries of the world not only relate to construction and maintenance of the track but also of some specific issues concerning the track. The case studies discussed in the paper are:  Burlington Railways of North America for maintenance of Heavy Haul Railway lines.  Harmersley Railways of North West Australia for maintenance of Heavy Haul Railway lines.  Fortescue Railways of Western Australia for construction of Heavy Haul Railway Line.  Sweden (Europe) Economics of running Heavy axle load & longer trains.  Union Pacific Railway. Maintenance of Heavy Haul Corridor  American Railways: Track Transition solutions for Heavy axle load service It is felt that experience gained by different Railway systems of the world may be of immense help to Indian Railways specially for running of 25 tonnes axle load on nominated sections of Indian Railway as well as for Dedicated Freight Corridor. Details of the various case studies are discussed in subsequent paras along with conclusion.

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6.1.Burlington Railways: Burlington Railways of North America is one of the oldest Heavy Haul operated railway, constructed in the decade 1970-1980. Traffic carried in the railway was mostly coal and mixed traffic with an axle load of 30 Tonnes and maximum speed of 75 km per hour. The annual tonnage was 50 HGT. The gauge adopted was standard gauge of 1435mm. 6.1.1. Track Structure: The track consisted of 68 Kg per meter rail & with mostly wooden sleepers with cut spikes and also mono block concrete sleepers with special clips; maximum curvature was 220 metres radius. 6.1.2. Problems Faced for Running of Heavy Axle Loads: A study carried out indicated the following problems with the track on account of Heavy Axle loads : “Rails: Rapid rail wear, Rail end batter and dipped joints, Cracked Rails, Corrugation of rails.” 6.1.3. Remedies Adopted It may be brought out that subsequent, up gradation of track structure and deployment of new technology has sorted out many of these initial problems caused during Heavy Haul operation. 6.2. Hamersley Railway of North Western Australia Hamersley Railway of North Western Australia used to transport iron ore over a standard (1435 mm) gauge single track of 388 kms joining mines at Tom Price and Paraburdoo with two ship loading points. Trains consisted of three 2700kw diesel electric locomotives and up to 210 cars with a 30t axle load. Train length was over 2kms, and gross weight about 26,000 tonnes. On the 100km adverse grade of 0.4% existed between Paraburdoo and Tom Price. 6.2.1. Problems Faced for Running of Heavy Axle Loads: “Degradation resulting in poor track geometry, fastening became loose, wide gauge and effecting cross levels and other track parameters.” 6.2.2. Remedies Adopted  Up gradation of track continuing of Rail of 68kg/m, proper consolidation of embankment. Improving quality of ballast and higher ballast cushion; use of Malaysian treated sleepers and better quality of fasteners.
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  

Rail Profiling by proper rail grinding machine. Monitoring of Track tolerances: Laying standard track tolerances and proper monitoring of the same. Better track management system.

6.3 Fortescue Railway of Western Australia Fortescue railways of Western Australia is the world’s newest Heavy- Haul, railway which was completed in April 2008. 6.3.1. Problems Faced for Running of Heavy Axle Loads: “Special rails had to be imported from China with 68 kg per meter weight. Modern turnouts were used so that speed could go upto 70 km/h.” 6.3.2. Conclusion Fortescue railway has set a new benchmark in heavy-haul railway operation, and no doubt other heavy-haul railways will be keeping a close eye on Fortescue to see how 40-tonne axle load operation works in the long term. 6.4. Sweden (Europe) This is basically a study on the Economics of running heavier axle load and longer trains in Sweden in Europe. Under increasing international competition, the movement of iron ore from mines in Northern Sweden to ports in Norway and Sweden, was looking for ways to reduce transportation costs and increase competitiveness. As European railways came under increasing pressure to reduce operating costs, and to even show a profit in their freight (goods) operations, it was only natural that they look at the costs and benefits associated with heavier axle loads and see if the benefits experienced elsewhere can also be realized in the European environment 6.4.1. Results of Study:  Operation of 68-wagon trains with 100 tonne load capacity (30 Tonne axle load) produced a reduction of approximately 30% in direct operating costs over the base case (52 wagons of 80 tonne capacity), taking into account the expected increase in track maintenance costs as a consequence of the increase in axle loads.  Assuming a “worst case” increase in track costs, savings remained in the range of 27%.  The increase to 30 tonne axle loads reduces costs by about 50% more than simply increasing train length, without increasing axle loads.  The increase in axle loads also reduces the number of trains that must be operated to carry the current and future volumes of iron ore, freeing up line capacity for other traffic and allowing the more efficient scheduling of maintenance work.

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6.4.2. Conclusion Based on the results of this study, the decision was made to purchase new heavier axle load equipment, with 100 Tonne capacity (30 Tonne axle load) and radial bogies. Prototype orders were also placed, with 68 train sets of 68 wagons each, to be ordered upon completion of acceptance tests. 6.5. Union Pacific Railways: Study was undertaken by AREMA of four important Heavy Haul routes of Union Pacific Railway sometimes in 2003. Out of four corridors, one corridor of Heavy coal route had 80% traffic having 34 to 37 tonnes axle load. The weight of these Heavy Haul trains has been increasing year by year and in the year 2003, there were about 35 HAL trains and each train was carrying about 15,000 tones.

6.5.1. Problems Faced  Failure of concrete tie plates  Spalling of Rails 6.5.2. Remedies Provided  Second generation tie plates provided which gives about 25% less stress on the plates  Provided premium quality steel for rails having superior wear characteristics. 6.6. Use of Experience of World Railways by Indian Railways System to Run Heavy Axle Load Trains Indian Railway took a bold decision in the year 2001-02 to run heavier axle load than existing axle load of 20.32 tonnes in an effort to enhance the traffic capacity of Railways to handle the increased traffic as well as to increase its financial viability pilot project of (CC+8+2) with an axle load of 22.9 tonnes was implemented on the 20 routes initially and later on 14 more routes added after the positive feedback from the different railways, the major routes are in the South Eastern Railway, East Coast Railway, SEC Railway and Eastern Railway. Presently CC+6+2T is in operation nearly on 26000 route kms and CC+8+2T on 5000 kms. The experience gained by IR in a short span of few years was almost on similar lines as experience gained by other railway system of the world. Heavy wear & tear of rails, cracked rails, more frequent renewal of fittings & fastenings such as Pandrol clips, Insulation joints, Rubber pads, poor track geometry due to axle loads, problems on bridges are some of the typical examples.

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7.

Detailed Description of the Corridors:

7.1. Eastern Corridor: The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor with a route length of 1839 km consists of two distinct segments: an electrified double-track segment of 1392 km between Dankuni in West Bengal &Khurja in Uttar Pradesh & an electrified single-track segment of 447 km between Ludhiana (Dhandarikalan) – Khurja - Dadri in the state of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Due to non – availability of space along the existing corridor particularly near important city centers and industrial townships, the alignment of the corridor takes a detour to bypass densely populated towns such as Mughalsarai, Allahabad, Kanpur, Etawah, Ferozabad, Tundla, Barhan, Hathras, Aligarh, Hapur, Meerut, Saharanpur, Ambala, Rajpura, Sirhind, Doraha and Sanehwal. Since the origin and destinations of traffic do not necessarily fall on the DFC, a number of junction arrangements have been planned to transfer traffic from the existing Indian Railway Corridor to the DFC and vice versa. These include Dankuni, Andal, Gomoh, Sonnagar, Ganjkhwaja, Mughalsarai, Jeonathpur, Naini/Cheoki, Prempur, Bhaupur, Tundla, Daudkhan, Khurja, Kalanaur, Rajpura, Sirhind and Dhandarikalan. The following table depicts the distance traversed through each state.
Eastern DFC States Punjab Haryana Uttar Pradesh Bihar West Bengal/Jharkhand Total KMs 88 72 1049 93 538 1839

The Eastern Corridor will traverse 6 states and is projected to cater to a number of traffic streams - coal for the power plants in the northern region of U.P., Delhi, Harayana, Punjab and parts of Rajasthan from the Eastern coal fields, finished steel, food grains, cement, fertilizers, lime stone from Rajasthan to steel plants in the east and general goods. The total traffic in UP direction is projected to go up to 116 million tonnes in 2021-22. Similarly, in the Down direction, the traffic level has been projected to increase to 28 million tons in 2021-22. As a result, the incremental traffic since 2005-2006, works out to a whopping 92 million tons. A significant part of this increase would get diverted to the Dedicated Freight Corridor. The Eastern DFC will be executed in a phased manner. The World Bank funding is being planned in three tranches APL1 for Khurja- Kanpur, APL2 for Kanpur-Mughalsarai and APL3

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for Khurja-Ludhiana. The Loan Agreement for APL1 between World Bank and DFCCIL has been executed for USD 975 million. As per RITES project report, the traffic that would move on the Eastern DFC, excluding the base year traffic (2005-06), is projected as below: It is also proposed to set up Logistics Park at Kanpur in U.P. and Ludhiana in Punjab. These parks are proposed to be developed on Public Private Partnership mode by creating a subSPV for the same. DFCCIL proposes to provide rail connectivity to such parks and private players would be asked to develop and provide state of the art infrastructure as a common user facility. Alignment Layout  Khurja - Bhaupur Section  Bhaupur – Mughalsarai Section  Ludhiana – Khurja – Dadri Section  Mughalsari – Sonnagar Section TRAFFIC PROJECTIONS ON EASTERN DFC (in million tons/year)
Direction/Commodity UP Direction Power House coal Public Coal Steel Others Logistic Park Sub-Total 54.46 0.61 8.24 1.61 1.20 66.12 61.96 0.95 9.74 2.96 2.40 78.01 2016-17 2021-22

Down Direction Fertilizer Cement Limestone Steel Plants Salt Others Logistic Park Sub-Total for the 0.23 0.78 4.99 0..68 1.61 1.20 9.48 0.42 1.52 5.00 1.03 2.96 2.40 13.32

Grand Total

75.60

91.33

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7.2 Western Corridor: The Western Corridor covers a distance of 1483 km of double line electric (2 X 25 KV) track from JNPT to Dadri via Vadodara-Ahmedabad-Palanpur-Phulera-Rewari. In addition, a single line connection of 32km long from proposed Pirthala Junction Station (near Asaoti on Delhi-Mathura line) to Tughlakabad is also proposed to be provided. Alignment has been generally kept parallel to existing lines except provision of detour at Diva, Surat, Ankleshwar, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, Palanpur, Phulera and Rewari.
Western DFC Haryana Rajasthan Gujarat Maharashtra Total 192 553 588 150 1483

However, it is entirely on a new alignment from Rewari to Dadri. For providing connection to Tughlakabad ICD, a single line parallel to the existing Delhi-Mathura line is proposed to be taken from Pirthala junction station (near Asaoti) to Tughlakabad. Moreover, the Western DFC is proposed to join Eastern Corridor at Dadri. Junction Stations between the existing railway system and the Western DFC have been provided at Vasai Road, Kosad/ Gothangam, Makarpura (Vadodara), Amli Road (Sabarmati), Palanpur, Marwar Jn., Phulera, Rewari and Pirthala Road. The traffic on the Western Corridor mainly comprises of ISO containers from JNPT and Mumbai Port in Maharashtra and ports of Pipavav, Mundra and Kandla in Gujarat destined for ICDs located in northern India, especially at Tughlakabad, Dadri and Dandharikalan. Besides Containers, other commodities moving on the Western DFC are POL, Fertilizers, Food grains, Salt, Coal, Iron & Steel and Cement. Further, owing to its faster growth as compared to other commodities, the share of container traffic is expected to progressively increase and reach a level of about 80% by 2021-22. The rail share of container traffic on this corridor is slated to increase from 0.69 million TEUs in 2005-06 to 6.2 million TEUs in 2021-22. The other commodities are projected to increase from 23 million tonnes in 2005-06 to 40 million tonnes in 2021-22. As a result, the maximum number of trains in the section is projected as 109 trains each way in Ajmer-Palanpur section. It is proposed to set up Logistics Parks at Mumbai area, particularly in the vicinity of KalyanUlhasnagar or Vashi-Belapur in Navi Mumbai, Vapi in southern Gujarat, Ahmedabad area in Gujarat, Gandhidham in the Kutch region of Gujarat, Jaipur area in Rajasthan, NCR of Delhi.These locations have been selected on the basis that these have a good concentration of diverse industries and constitute major production/consumption centres. These are also well connected by rail and road systems for convenient movement in different directions. These parks
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are proposed to be developed on Public Private Partnership mode by creating a sub-SPV for the same. DFCCIL proposes to provide rail connectivity to such parks and private players would be asked to develop and provide state of the art infrastructure as a common user facility. As per RITES project report, the traffic that would move on the Western DFC, excluding the base year traffic (2005-06), is projected as below:
TRAFFIC PROJECTIONS ON WESTERN DFC (in million tons/year) Direction/Commodity UP Direction Food grains, Fertiliser POL Cement, Salt, Miscellaneous Containers (in million TEUs) Sub-Total excluding containers DN Direction Coal, Cement, Iron & Steel Fertilizer, Foodgrains, Salt POL Containers (in million TEUs) Sub-Total excluding containers Total excluding Containers Total Containers (in million TEUs) 6.30 1.60 1.00 1.90 8.90 10.90 3.80 9.40 2.60 1.50 2.60 13.50 16.60 5.30 2016-17 2021-22

1.20 0.30 0.40 1.90 1.90

1.80 0.50 0.80 2.70 3.10

Alignment Layout Phase-I Rewari - Vadodara Section Phase-II Vadodara - JNPT Section

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7.3 Project Phasing: Both corridors will be constructed simultaneously. It is envisaged that the corridors will be fully operational over their entire length by 2017. The following table indicates the tentative phasing of the project:Western Corridor Phase I Phase II Phase III Eastern Corridor Phase I-APL1 Phase II-APL2 Phase III-APL3 Phase IV (Funding through PPP) Khurja - Kanpur (343 Kms) Kanpur - Mughalsarai (390 Kms) Khurja-Ludhiana (397 Kms) Dankuni - Sonnagar (550 Kms) 2009-2016 2010-2016 2011-2016 2011-2016 2010-2016 Rewari- Vadodara (920 Kms) Vadodara- JNPT(430Kms) Rewari – Dadri(140 Kms) Year 2009-2016 2010-2017 2010-2017

Phase Ia ( Funding by Ministry of Sonnagar - MugalSarai (125 Kms) Railways)

7.4 Dedicated Freight Corridor Project at a glance: As per the preliminary studies carried out by Research Design and Standard Organization, Lucknow, the salient features of the Delhi – Mumbai and Delhi – Howrah Routes are given below:

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8.

Assessment Of Axle Load For Freight – Corridor

There can be a number of factors, which can be attributed towards reducing the cost of transportation on Indian Railways. But We would like to take the most notable and talked about factor i.e. “Net Weight to Tare Weight Ratio” of the wagons on the Indian Railways. It is a wellknown fact that the “Pay Load to Tare Weight Ratio” of the wagons of Indian Railways is one of the lowest in the world and there is an urgent need for improving the same. IRs’ ‘Payload to Tare Weight Ratio’ of B.G. Wagons varies between 2.0 and 2.6 only, which is grossly inadequate. Even on the Indian Railways’ MG System, ‘Pay Load to Tare Weight Ratio’ is as high as 3.7. In the Standard Gauge System adopted by US Railroad and Western Railroads, the ‘Net to Tare Ratio’ varies between 3.5 and 4.5. Indian Railways carry 450 kg of dead tare weight for every 1000 kg of freight carried; this is only 170 kg in USA. The complete envelope of ‘Maximum Moving Dimensions’ should, as far as possible, carry ONLY payload and NOTHING else. In India this is not being achieved because of conservative wagon design and low axle load. Even inadequate ‘Standard Moving Dimensions’ (vide Annexure 'A') for BG is affecting improving the Net to Tare Ratio. If new BG freight corridor with new standard moving dimensions is constructed, this limitation can be overcome. The ‘Net to Tare Ratio’ may be improved by introducing lighter wagons thus reducing tare weight which in turn will increase the payload for a given axel load. Whereas introduction of lighter wagons may or may not be cost effective, increasing the axle load will certainly be cost effective and rich benefits will accrue within a short time. The dilemma of high axle load, which is engaging Indian Railways’ attention today, was faced by US Railroad in a similar manner a few years ago when North American Rail road started facing financial crisis on account of diversion of traffic to other modes of transportation. The North American Railroad abruptly decided to increase the axle load of existing track by 50% (to 30 tonnes) and reduce their tariff to the level highly competitive vis-à-vis road so that the volume of freight traffic increased significantly and even after taking into account increase in cost of maintenance, the net revenue was significantly higher which enabled them not only to survive but also to grow consistently in the highly competitive environment in the area of freight transportation in USA. The US perception is “raise axle load first, revenue and saving generated will pay for upgrading track, NOT vice-versa”. It is interesting to note that when we increase axle load, wagon weight undergoes little change. In other words entire advantage is passed on to consumer and hence translates into money. It is important to note that US Railroad’s average earning from coal is about Rs. 0.24 per NTKM vis-à-vis Indian Railways’ Rs. 0.79 per NTKM and yet US railroads make money out of coal traffic after increasing the axle load to 30 tonnes. The average freight rate per NTKM at 1996 prices in US railroad was about 3.5 cents in 1980, which was reduced to 1.5 cents per
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NTKM in 2000. The average track cost also came down from 0.5 cent per NTKM to about 0.25 cent per NTKM during the period from 1980 to 2000. After increase of axle load to 30 tonnes on US railroad, it was found that rail needs early renewal. So far as bridges are concerned, there has not been a single catastrophic bridge failure on railroad. Perhaps there may be need for Indian Railways to review the methods of bridge strength calculations based on new tools available now in structural analysis. There is one apprehension that running freight cars with 30 tonnes axle load is not safe in Indian Railway’s scenario, where mixed traffic (goods and passenger trains) is run on the same track. It is normally believed that higher axle load freight trains are run on dedicated freight routes. This is, however, not a very correct perception as in US Railroad passenger trains are also run on section, where 70% goods trains with 30 tonnes Axle load are also run. For strategic planning, two options are available: 1. Adopting high axle load heavy haul freight train operation 2. Running freight train with existing axle load but increasing Maximum Permissible Speed (MPS) from existing 75 kmph to 100 kmph. For running freight trains with 20.5 tonne axle load at higher speed i.e. at 100 kmph compared to 75 kmph, the loco requirement will be 100% more. But if freight trains with high axle load (30 tonnes per axle) are run at MPS of 100 kmph instead of 75 kmph(MPS), the loco requirement will be 50% more. Energy bill will increase by 35%. The strategy, which will help in reducing the “Unit Cost of Transportation” to the barest minimum, should be adopted for strategic planning. As mentioned earlier, since trunk routes are saturated/super-saturated and the freight traffic on Indian Railways has to grow @ about 7% per annum, as a strategic planning, Indian Railways may think of segregating passenger and freight corridors by constructing new double line 30 tonne axle load freight routes along with selective up gradation of a few existing high traffic density routes of Indian Railways down by as much as 40% by providing dedicated freight corridors with higher axle loads of 30T or more. Further as capacity of feeder routes can be presently optimized to 25 tonnes therefore it It has been proven in USA & Australia that transportation costs can be brought is proposed to keep the capacity of DFC little higher, as going on very much higher side will prove to be uneconomical. Thus taking contingence of above said aspects it is proposed to keep the design capacity of DFC as 30 T and hence track parameters to be designed for 30 T axle load.

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9.

Design Of Track For 30 T Axle Loads

For discussing the design parameters the track system is divided into following distinct components: a) Rail b) Sleeper c) Ballast d) Formation 9.1. RAILS The track component, which has most seriously limited the progression to higher axle loads in railway operations, is the rail itself. Due to the current trend towards higher axle loads, selection of the ultimate strength of the rail steel has a significant influence upon the service life of the rail. Rails contribute about 40% cost of the entire track. It has most significant bearing on load carrying capacity as well as safety. Rail selection procedures and designs have remained relatively static for over 100 years. This is exemplified by the continuing common adoption of the Beam-on Elastic foundation (BOEF) analysis as the procedure for the selection of rail sections, based on the tensile stresses obtained in the rail foot. Since rails represent a relatively long term investment which, unlike rolling stock, cannot be withdrawn from services if their performance is not satisfactory, there has been a general tendency to “over design” the rail sections by including various safety factors in the design calculations. In recent years, however, the introduction of new technologies such as high strength rails, modified wheel/rail profiles, improved lubrication practices improved rail maintenance and improved bogie types have led to major changes in the relative importance of the factors controlling rail life. Thus, in various situations, the longer term fatigue and deformation performance are becoming of increasing interest. Such a potential increase in rail life provides an opportunity for reassessing and revising both rail requirements and design procedures. 9.1.1. Rail Stresses For a rail section to be acceptable, the stresses at the maxima shown in Figure 1 must be evaluated relative to the allowable rail stress limits. In general (with the exception of location A in the rail head), the critical stresses are either longitudinal (locations B, D and E) or vertical (location C), with shear stresses playing a minor role in the critical stress analysis. In the railhead, high shear stresses occur due to wheel/rail contact, which in the presence of a suitable initiating site (typically non-metallic inclusions) may lead to the growth of shells or transverse defects and ultimate failure of the rail.

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Loads on the rail and positions of high rail stresses The bending stress which occurs at the center of the rail base (point E) is independent ofthe magnitude of the lateral force and the eccentricity of the vertical load from the rail center line. The design criteria for this bending stress is established to prevent the occurrence of fatigue in the rail base. Where high lateral or extremely eccentric loads are encountered, the resultant stress at the edge of the rail foot (location D) may consistently exceed that at the center of the rail foot, and hence may become the critically stressed location in the rail. The bending stress at the lower edge of the rail head (point B) is important in the evaluation of plastic deformation of the rail head. Localized bending of the railhead on the web brings about high stresses in this location. In addition, especially in the case of the larger rail sizes, this location becomes the most highly stressed as critical head loss limits are being approached. Stresses in this location are particularly sensitive to both lateral and eccentric vertical loading. High values of rail shear stress are generated near the contact point between the rail and the wheel (point A). When the fatigue strength is exceeded, fracture of the rail head occurs. Conceptualizing the rail as a beam on a continuous linear elastic foundation facilitates calculation of the rail bending stress at the center of the rail base and aloof the amount of vertical rail deflection under load.

9.1.2. Allowable / Permissible RAIL STRESS – For 90 UTS RailUltimate TS90.0 Kg/mm2 Yield Stress 46.8 Kg/mm2 (52% of UTS) 10% Reduction for unforeseen 4.68 Residual Stress 6 Thermal Stress in LWR 10.75

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Hence total permissible stress in LWR for 90 UTS =46.8-4.68-6-10.75 =25.25 Kg/mm2 There are various methods available for calculating the allowable rail bending stress. In this report the Beam on elastic foundation theory is used to predict stresses in the rail. 9.1.3. Rail Bending Stress due to a single vertical wheel loadAssume that the rail is continuously supported on an elastic support and that the support has a constant modulus of stiffness i.e. the depression of the track and the resulting upward pressures on the rail are directly proportional to each other. Assume further that the track construction is such that the negative pressures may develop. The relationship between rail bending moment, applied load, support conditions and location is given by:

Where Mx = rail bending moment a distance “x” from the load source. x = distance from load source P = single wheel load U = track modulus E = Young’s Modulus of the rail steel (2.07 x 10 5 MPa ) I = rail moment of inertia. The maximum bending moment in the rail is given by the above equation at x=0, Therefore Mo= 0.318* P* X1 Track Modulus is defined as the load per unit length of the rail required to produce a unit depression in the track. From the experiment carried out by RDSO it has been found that an initial load of 4t gives greater deflection, which accounts for gap between rail and sleeper between sleeper and ballast, depending on the state of maintenance. Track modulus in this range is called Initial Modulus and the value is 75 kg/cm/cm for BG (old track structures) which has been reassessed for PSC track and found equal to 183.7kg/cm/cm. Track modulus beyond 4t load is truly elastic range and is called Elastic Modulus, Ue. The new value is 419.17 kg/cm/cm for BG.

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9.1.4. Effect of adjacent Wheels:

Diagram for moments, pressure intensity and rail depression under single wheel load 9.1.5. Speed Effect: Based on the extensive research done by RDSO graphs showing the relationship between speed and impact factor have been plotted for different types of rolling stocks and these are used for calculation of stresses. 9.1.6. Leading wheel Effect: Due to some wave like effect in the rails with the passage of train the rail tends to bend upwards at some distance ahead of the leading wheel. Analysis of rails stresses is based on the assumptions that the rail supports are capable of developing negative reactions. In practice there is often play between the rail foot and the fastenings, permitting certain lift of the rail. This causes an increase in bending stresses in the rail by about 10%. 9.1.7. Effect of eccentricity of Vertical Load: The vertical wheel load acts at an eccentricity. This causes torsion bending stress in the rail due to torque effect.

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9.1.8. Effect of lateral load : Due to sinusoidal motion of wheel sets on straights and flanging action on curves rails are subjected to lateral forces. This causes bending stress in the rails due to its bending in the lateral direction between the sleepers. In addition ,torsion al bending stresses are developed due to torque effect. Prudhomme’s formula for calculation of lateral force: Hy =0.85(1+p/3) Where, Hy = lateral force, P = axle load in tonnes. 9.1.9. Thermal Rail Stress: In addition to longitudinal stresses created by the wave action, two other longitudinal stresses of equal or greater magnitude affect the rail design. The first is due to locomotive traction or braking forces, a complex condition which is theoretically highly indeterminate and has not been measured in track successfully. The second is due to thermal expansion or contraction caused by changes in rail temperatures from that existing when laying the track. 9.1.10. Rail wheel contact Stresses: The contact between rail and wheel flange should be theoretically a point. Hertz theory explains that in practice the elastic deformation under higher axle lad results in deformation of steel of wheel and the rail creating an elliptical contact area. The dimensions of contact ellipse are determined by the normal force on contact area, while the ratio of ellipse axes a and b depends on the main curvature of the wheel and rail profile. Inside the contact area a pressure distribution develops which in across section, is shaped in the form of a semi-ellipse with highest contact pressure occurring at center.

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The contact problem is most serious in case of high wheel loads or relatively small diameters. Elisenmann has devised a simplified formula to calculate the maximums hear stress in railhead, which is as follow Tmax =4.13(Q/ R)1/2 Where T max= maximum shear stress in rail head Q= wheel load +load due on loading due to curves. R =Wheel radius (mm) Since problem is one of the fatigue strength, the permissible shear stress is restricted to30% of UTS, which works out to be 21.60Kg/mm2 for 72UTS rail and 27.00Kg/mm2 for 90 UTS rails. The important deviation from the above formula is that the maximum shear stress increases with increase in axle load. It also increases with increase in curvature of track as increase super elevation results in increase on loading of inner rail when goods train ply on mixed traffic routes. The shear stress also increases with wearing of wheels as the wheel radius decreases with the wear of wheel. Thus it may appear that the problem of increase axle load can be solved with increase in wheel diameter but this is not possible as increase in wheel diameter means less carrying capacity because of restricted overhead clearances. Therefore only way to keep the maximums hears stresses within permissible limits are to use the rail with higher UTS. The contact stresses for BOY, BOB and BOXNHA wagons would be as under. The diameter of wheel of Casnub bogie is taken as average of new wheel and worn- out i.e. (1000+925)/2=962.5 mm.

For 72 UTS rail the maximum allowable shear stress will work out to 21.60 Kg/mm2andfor 90 UTS rail, it will be 27Kg/mm2. It there implies that 90 UTS rail will be required for running 30 tonne axle load.

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10. Suitability of Section: As on date on IR the heaviest track structure in use is with 60 kg UIC rail on concrete sleepers with 25 to 30 cm ballast cushion. The suitability of this track structure has been checked for running 30 t axle load. It is seen that the calculated bending stresses for 60 kg & 52 kg rails are exceeding the permissible stresses as given below. Maximum Rail stress calculated for 60kg rail with 1660 sleeper density 10 % rail wear of area comes to 28.474 kg/mm2 with Ui= 183.7 and Ue = 419.17 kg/cm/cm. The detail calculation is given in annexure 1.
Sr. No . 1. 2. 3. Rail Section Axel Load 30 tones 30 tones 30 tones Track Structure Maximum Rail Stress 32.15 Kg/mm2 27.70 Kg/mm2 24.45 Kg/mm2 25.25 Kg/mm2 Permissible Bending Stress Wear

52 Kg/90 UTS 60 Kg/90 UTS 68.5 Kg/90 UTS

PSC, 1660 Sleepers/Km, Ballast cushion 250 PSC, 1660 Sleepers/Km, Ballast cushion 250 PSC, 1660 Sleepers/Km, Ballast cushion 250

10 % 10 % 10%

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11. Innovative Track Design: The traditional track design comprises of rails, supported by individual bearers uniformly spaced at approx. 0.6 m, laid on ballast to permit geometry adjustments in vertical and horizontal and to provide indispensable elasticity of sleeper support. Load on this traditional design jumps from sleepers to sleepers creating a very uneven stress and strain situation within the ballast layer and the lower part of the structure, varying from high stress under the sleepers to no stress in the cribs, which necessarily results in extreme pressure gradients. With these presumptions the following new ideas are developed:1. The running rails should be supported by a longitudinal beam. 2. This beam however should be neither continuous nor perfectly stiff, but separated into parts, which are interconnected by an articulation. The idea aims at three salient targets: 1. To significantly reduce the peak ballast pressure. 2. To activate the entire ballast bed, at least the portion under the rails for load transmission. 3. To minimize stress gradients in the supporting structures. By design of a girder grid as supporting structures the wheel forces are widely and directly spread into the ground. To improve the sleeper-ballast interface and integrated polyurethane pad forms a soft sleeper bottom. The pad can be designed for various stiffness. It helps to reduce the peak contact and to equalize load transmission. Two rigid cross sleepers interconnects each rail. The later design forms a closed frame with cantilever arms. For this reason the new design is called FRAME-SLEEPER. Locating the fasteners at the crossing points results in seemingly uneven fastener distances. The short distance providing high shear stiffness between the elements through the rail together with comparatively soft bending. In the longer section over the element the rail is supported with a quasi –continuous elastic pad. This layout achieves the required articulation between the elements. The FE- calculation of soil stresses confirm the design expectations: The nearly twofold contact area between sleepers sleeper and ballast reduces ballast and sol stress to almost half, while the stress gradient are much smoothened as a result of a “caterpillar-like” action. The following advantages are gained and have been observed in the existing test section on the Austrian Federal Railways: 1. Reduction of ballast pressure to approx.50% if full area under tamping is performed. 2. Further reduction of ballast pressure is achieved by elastic coating of the subsurface of the sleepers by an adequate soft material to improve the sleeper ballast contact and to) partly) replace ballast resilience by a designed stiffness. This also leads to a larger number of contact points between sleeper subsurface and ballast. 3. Shape of frame-sleeper substantially increases lateral resistance.
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4. Frame sleepers increase horizontal stiffness of the track structure, which is vital for buckling safety, application of full scale eddy current brakes a feasible without any buckling problem. 5. Width of design is restricted and allows for use in tight substructure condition. 6. The frame-sleepers permit application in curves of all radii and under transition ramps without special procedures. 7. Frame sleepers are manufactured industrially, are subject to an industrial quality control can be replaced individually. 8. Special preparations to; lay frame-sleepers are not necessary. 9. Reduction of ballast layer thickness may be feasible. 10. All mechanized technologies for track maintenance /lying are applicable, in some cases with minor modification. 11. Tamping in the traditional way is possible, additional tamping of the longitudinal parts by a modified switch tamper is possible. 12. Treatment with the DTS after tamping is highly effective. 13. Ballast cleaning, if required, is possible in the traditional way. 14. Initial capital cost of design (per meter readymade track) is slightly higher than the traditional sleepers (approx. 25%) 15. Reduction of maintenance to approx.1/8 is expected as a result of reduced ballast pressure. 16. Economic evaluation gives very positive results with considerable advantages in lifecycle cost. Frame-Sleepers are designed for mechanized laying and maintenance Cost consideration indicate that reduced maintenance will justify slightly higher investment in tracks or sleeper design respectively.

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12. Track Maintenance Standard: The track maintenance standards and practices also require some refinement over the existing practices. With the suggested heavier track structure, fully mechanized maintenance shall be the only and ideal maintenance practice using the service roads wherever feasible and rail bound maintenance system can be used extensively. Trespassing requires to be controlled by fencing the entire length with access-controlled service roads. Communication at gang level shall be with Wireless mobile equipment. Rapid response Rail mounted vehicles for attending Emergencies is suggested. All the inspection tools and devices shall have to computer compatible forte-grated MIS system for better communication across departments is also suggested for better material management. Quality of track laying: The track laying should be with best standards as various studies suggests that quality of laying decides the track maintenance in put required during service life, accordingly a poorly laid track requires frequent maintenance input. The track constructions should be done on proper formation & wherever necessary suitable formation rehabilitation be planned & executed otherwise the maintenance input required with 30 t axle load shall be very high Welding of Rails: The rails should be manufactured at least in 65 m rail length and further welded with Flash butt welding technique in longer lengths. On unloading at site it should be welded with mobile welding machine for forming LWR track. During maintenance welding should be organized with mobile welding machine or latest AT welding technique I.e. CAP preheating method necessary equipment’s& competent welders be recruited with multi skilled background & trained timely. All this is required to ensure minimum AT welding & sound AT welding in case avoidable because weld fractures is already a challenge which will further aggravate under the effect of 30 t axle loads. Tamping of track: Latest 3 X CSM machines require to be deployed for systematic tamping of track to get optimum use of traffic blocks, for isolated stretch tamping the latest tampers which can record the tack geometry as well as can move with a speedof120 kmph or so be procured to take care of isolated stretch tamping. For isolated spot tamping such as approaches of girder bridges, LC’S, pts&xings etc. off track tampers with skilled staff for operation & maintenance are required to be planned & arranged. Dedicated and in-built maintenance windows of at least 4 hours on single line or 21/2hrsblock on both lines per day should be planned as a system of maintenance. Rail maintenance: The incidence of rolling contact fatigue causing development of defects originating from gauge face are expected to be more with higher axle loading of30 t with freight trains running at a speed of 100 kmph. Therefore for efficient maintenance of rail, the grinding of rail surface shall be a vital activity accordingly the practice of grinding of rail surface needs to be incorporated in the system of maintenance and all necessary arrangements including grinding machines & skilled staff needs to be provided in the maintenance organization. Anti-corrosion measures (Rail/Fastenings) : The track especially between Mumbai –surat is prone to corrosion of rails, due to coastal region. Effective measures to arrest corrosion of
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rails, tackling liner biting of rail, jamming of ERC needs to be planned and executed at the construction stage itself. LWR maintenance: Tensors requires to be procured & necessary staff requires to be trained for operation & maintenance. The distressing with tensor shall lead to distressing at proper temp. and it can be done in most part of year therefore traffic blocks for this activity will not become critical. Further for effective monitoring of LWR regular measurement of stress free temp with latest technology requires to be put in position.

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13. Recommendations: 1. To carry more freight, cost effectively the Indian Railway must raise axle loads to 30 tonne with trailing load 12t/m, and longer train of about 1400- 1500m length. 2. From the consideration of bending stresses and contact shear stresses, even 60 kg, 90 UTS rail is not able to sustain the increased stresses due to 30 tonne axle loads. 68.5 Kg or similar rail of heavier section seems to be a realistic solution for new corridor. 3. Contact pressure between rail and sleeper would be higher than the permissible value even on a track with 60 Kg rail on 60 Kg sleepers at 60 cm spacing (1660 sleepers/Km). 4. It is found that track with 60 Kg rail on 60 Kg sleepers at 43 cm spacing (2326 sleepers/Km would only be fit for running of 30 tonne axle loading from the consideration of contact stresses. Else, PSC sleepers will require redesigning considering the difficulties involved in maintaining a track with such high sleeper density. 5. About 300 mm clean ballast cushion would be required for running 30 tonne axle load . 6. Therefore, the Track Structure for new track be 68kg UIC rail or similar of heavier section, laid on newly designed PSC sleeper/Framed sleepers with sleeper density within 1660 to1818 mm c/c with optimum ballast cushion 300-350mm and not more than this. 7. For running the 30t axle load, increase frequency of inspections, patrolling and USFD testing are required. USFD should be done in the periodicity of 8 GMT. 8. Signaling system shall detect rail and weld failures. 9. As an alternative strategy, use of wagons with high payload to tare ratio and increased number of axles may also be considered. Wagon dimensions must be changed with reduced wheel diameter. Signaling system requires to be upgraded.

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14. Conclusion: With the growing need of freight traffic, it is imperative to construct dedicated freight corridors. The concept of 'Dedicated Freight Corridor' is new to Indian Railways and still it is at the starting stage. The details of the standard of construction have yet to be laid down and only then construction activities will be taken up. The points brought out above indicate only the likely concept of the construction and maintenance of the 'Dedicated Freight Corridor'. Each point has to be further studied in details to lay down the requirement of personnel & machinery for different wings of construction and maintenance duly keeping in view the financial implications and cost benefit analysis. These freight corridors must be designed for heavy axle load & higher speed & high GMT keeping in view of future traffic demands to serve the track in stable condition for a sufficiently long time. Special attentions needed in construction of the freight corridors with the use of modern machineries and strict quality control of earthwork and blanketing. Ground improvements in case of soft subsoil and adequate drainage arrangements will have to be ensured for construction of new dedicated freight corridors An Existing track, if planned to be used as dedicated freight corridor, will required to be investigated & upgraded by provision of blanket thickness by any suggested methods and drainage improvements etc. To achieve the dream goal following points should be taken into consideration Constitution of a CORE Team from Civil, Traffic, elect, Mechanical and Finance departments for appraisal and conceptualization of the project and close interaction with M/s. RITES for freezing various import parameters.  Land acquisition to be put on fast track and completed during planning stage.  Important bridges requiring long period for construction can be taken up separately, if feasible.  Gathering experience for execution of similar works from other Govt. Department, like NHAI Ltd.  Special attention to planning and execution of ROB/RUBs - major critical activity.  Safety measures during construction for existing lines (if along the same alignment )  Construction standard to commensurate with maintenance standard proposed.  Interaction with Industry/suppliers.

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15. Future Scope There is a wide scope for the future research over the said topic. In this report of Heavy Haul Train operations scenario in India, we have only considered the effect on the rails because of the 30 tones axel load. Various other variables such as:  Sleepers  Ballasts  Formation  Bridges  Gradient rails  Ghat sections etc can also be considered for the research purpose. The report include only the information about the Track design while considering the international railways and only the rails section of the overall infrastructure of the railways. The future study can also include further increasing the axel load to 32.5 tones/axel or even 40 tones/axel which are running successfully in the current scenario in the developed nations.

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Annexure 1 Rail Stress Calculation for 60 kg Rail With 1660 mm spacing for 10% wears Properties of rail section:Ui = 183.7 kg/cm/cm Ue = 419.13 kg/cm/cm Ixx = 2501.54 cm 4 Zc = 248.98 cm3 Zt = 349.72 cm3 So, Xi = 42.33*(Ixx/Ui)1/4 =81.315 cm Xe = 66.161 cm

Impact Factor for 100kmph = 68.5%

Calculation of BM and stresses due to vertical load:1. Calculation effect of adjacent wheel and initial wheel load – Wheel Configuration
A Typical BOXN Wagon

Wheel No. Distance b/w wheels with X1i = 81.315 cm for 200 cm = - 0.18 452.4cm = 0 652.4cm = 0

1 200

2 452.4

3

4 200

X1e = 66.161 cm for 200 cm = -0.12 452.4 cm = 0 652.4 cm = 0

For initial load of 5 tones effect of adjacent wheel = 5 X 0.18 = -0.90 Tiv considering initial load 5 tones

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Wheel No. Inter Distance Effect Of Wheel – 1 Effect Of Wheel – 2 Effect Of Wheel – 3 Effect Of Wheel – 4 Vertical Wheel Load

1 200 5 - 0.90 4.10

2 452.40 - 0.90 5 4.10

3 200 5 - 0.90 4.10

4 - 0.90 5 4.10



Effect of loading wheel to be taken if the distance between adjacent axel is more than 6 X 1

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References

    

10th International Heavy Haul Conference 2013, 4th to 6th February, 2013, New Delhi. Topic “ Capacity Building Through Heavy Haul Operations” National Technical Seminar on “Impact and Experience of Heavier Axel Loads on Indian Railways and Resultant Maintenance Strategies. January 21st – 22nd, 2010, Pune. White Paper “Impact of increase in axle loads on track and bridges of Indan Railways” by Shiv Kumar, Director/IRICEN/Pune. White Paper “Rationale behind increase in axle load on Indian Railways and road ahead” by V K Jain, Executive Director, Civil Engineering. (P), Railway Board. White paper “Engineering Judgment and risk management based approach for introduction of heavier axle loads” by Anirudh Jain, Executive director, Track, RDSO, Lucknow.

 

White Paper “Preparation for heavier axle load”, by Atul Kumar Kankane, Dy.GM & Secretary to GM, West Central railway. White Paper “Implications and solutions for running of higher axle load on specified routes of Indian Railways”, by K K Miglani, Dy Chief Engineer/TO, Northern Railway & Jagtar Singh, Dy Chief Engineer/Land, Northern railway.



White paper “ Global Heavy Haul Experience and Indian Railways”, by M M Agarwal, Chief Engineer, Northern Railway & K K Miglani, Dy Chief Engineer(TP), Northern railway.



White paper “Railways and Rolling stock engineers and Challenges ahead” by Ashutosh Kumar Banerji, General Manager, Central Railway.

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