Western Railway’s recently commissioned Mobile Train Radio Communication (MTRC) system was inaugurated by General Manager Alok Kansal yesterday.
Meant to streamline communications between suburban trains and control offices, WR’s MTRC will cover the Churchgate-Virar section. This route handles the bulk of the zone’s Mumbai suburban traffic. Western Railway has fitted 105 Mumbai local EMU rakes with MTRC devices so far.
Originally sanctioned in 2012-13, the 5.98 crore project cost includes a two-year warranty in addition to five years of annual maintenance costs.
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Before deployment of MTRC, WR’s field communications were primarily over VHF (Very High Frequency) band walkie-talkies and mobile phones based closed user group systems. Because they were not designed for train operations, very limited use cases were served.
WR’s MTRC deployment is a first of its kind over Indian Railways, says a statement from the zone. It will enable several possibilities of communication within the crew of local trains, between the train crew and the control centre, and between crews of different trains. The system will also enable broadcast calls by the control centre to passengers.
Dissemination of real-time information of train operations during the monsoon period will also become possible.
Speaking at the ceremony, GM Kansal said that the MTRC is an effective and technologically advanced communication system that can play an intrinsic role in preventing train accidents through effective communication.
He explained that the system will monitor, track and aid in communication between the trains and the control room thereby ensuring smooth movement of rakes as well as help in preventing adverse events.
Key Benefits of Western Railway’s MTRC
- Single touch dialling to call train controllers at the control centre with emergency call facilities.
- Auto Call Answer for cab radios for motormen and guards to receive messages from controllers and from another cab of the same train.
- Simpler dialling of controllers (TPC, SIG and TMS) as numbers are fed into the phonebook for easy access.
- Reduced detention of trains as the motorman can directly communicate with EMU Controller.
- Broadcast calls to enable motormen and guards to receive information simultaneously. Passengers in trains can be provided information through an announcement via the MTRC if necessary.
- An emergency override will make it possible for a train crew to get through to the controllers even if the called number is busy.
- Cases of trespassing and runovers can be communicated immediately to others when noticed. This will speed up sending of medical aid and may save lives as well as caution other trains around the area.
Western Railway CPRO Sumit Thakur said that the 60 km Churchgate – Virar section Mumbai suburban line is a high-density traffic route. Trains on this section run with a headway of three minutes in peak hours. The route can potentially serve 3.4 million passengers every day through 1,300 services.
Mobile Train Radio Communication – History on Indian Railways
Mobile Train Radio Communication is not new to Indian Railways. Older versions of such systems were used on Indian Railways from the late 1990s.
Walkie talkies and rudimentary MTRC systems were deployed in the wake of accidents like the Gaisal train collision on 2nd August 1999 that killed 285 passengers.
An older MTRC system was deployed on the Nagpur-Itarsi and Delhi-Mughalsarai-Howrah sections in the 1990s. The system on Central Railway’s Nagpur-Itarsi section was decommissioned in the mid-2000s.
Western Railway’s MTRC Deployment: The Technology
WR’s MTRC is TETRA (Terrestrial Trunk Radio) digital network and employs a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) based air interface coupled to an Internet Protocol network and Distributed Switching architecture.
The zone has deployed DAMM Cellular’s Tetraflex solution on the Churchgate-Virar route, with equipment being sourced from multiple vendors. DAMM has also supplied MTRC solutions to Nagpur Metro.
Delhi Metro also uses a TETRA based radio communication system for its operations.
WR has integrated the new MTRC system with its existing Train Management System for easier usage. The controller can now call up an individual train using the train number displayed on the TMS.
Because the network is digital, audio quality is significantly better than old and noisy analog VHF systems. The new network is able to set up calls in as low as 300 milliseconds.
The system uses six towers installed at Churchgate, Mahalaxmi, Bandra, Jogeshwari, Borivali and Virar to communicate with all trains. These towers are coupled to base switching centres (BSC) installed at these locations. The BSC is then connected to the Operational Control Centre (OCC) through an optical cable network with built-in redundancy.
On the radio side, the MTRC uses five frequency pairs in the 380-400 MHz band for wireless communication with trains and other mobile MTRC devices.
Transmit Frequencies: 380.25, 380.75, 381.25, 381.75, 382.25 MHz
Recieve Frequencies: 390.25, 390.75, 391.25, 391.75, 392.25 MHz
To ensure continuity of coverage, the network is designed with overlapping coverage areas from adjacent towers.
The design & approval for new towers at Churchgate, Bandra and Jogeshwari was obtained by IIT & Western Railways.
Existing towers were utilized for setting up of antennas at Mahalaxmi, Borivali and Virar.
Various licenses also had to be obtained for this system viz. CMRTS License, WPC License for radio spectrum, import license for equipment, SACFA License for radio towers (Clearance required from Airport Authority and from Ministry of Defence).