In an exclusive interview with TVW News India, Dr. Anirudh Gautam, Principal Executive Director of the Resource & Testing Vertical at the Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), Lucknow, discussed the pivotal role of RDSO in the development and modernization of India’s railways. Dr. Gautam shed light on the latest advancements in railway technology, the significance of stringent testing protocols, and the organization’s efforts in ensuring the safety and efficiency of railway operations across the country. This conversation, held with Shiv from TVW News India, highlights RDSO’s commitment to innovation and excellence in shaping the future of Indian railways.
You have been credited with the development of several pioneering technologies, including the first hotel load feature on export locomotives and the world’s first ALCO locomotive electronic fuel injection system. Can you discuss the impact of these innovations on the operational efficiency and environmental sustainability of Indian Railways?
Hotel Load feature on ALCO diesel locomotive was developed by me in response to the requirement of Sri Lanka railways since their passenger coaches did not have self-generation for meeting the load of fans and lights. This was the first time on Indian Railways that a diesel locomotive was incorporated a hotel load system. In hotel load system of the locomotive, power for the electrical load of the passenger coaches is developed on the locomotive and then distributed to the train. Thus the coaches need not have their self-generation of power, thus reducing the weight of the coaches, reducing the cost and a more reliable system. Lighter weight of the coaches result in lesser consumption of diesel fuel, lesser harmful emissions and lower CO2 equivalent emissions. Initially two diesel locomotives fitted with hotel load system were exported to Sri Lanka. Due to their success, a repeat order of ten more diesel locomotives was placed on Diesel Locomotive Works. Now Indian Railways have introduced the feature of hotel load on the WAP7 electric locomotives and eliminated one diesel genset power car. This is leading to reduction in noise and diesel consumption for meeting the hotel loads of the train.
Diesel locomotives on Indian Railways have historically used mechanical fuel injection. There are two categories of diesel locomotives on IR, i.e. ALCO, for which Transfer of Technology was done in the 1960s and EMD whose technology was acquired in 1990s. Both ToT were done from America based diesel locomotive manufacturers. World over there has been a move toward employing electronic fuel injection systems due to fuel saving, emissions reduction, flexibility and faster response. Therefore, it was decided to replace the mechanical fuel injection on the ALCO with Electronic fuel injection system. A prototype engine fitted with EFI was successfully tested in the Engine Development Directorate and demonstrated a fuel saving of 4% over duty cycle. A prototype ALCO diesel locomotive was thereafter built in Diesel Modernisation Works Patiala and run successfully in commercial operations. Fuel saving of 4% over duty cycle was measured. Smoke opacity was reduced by 70%, and there was 50% reduction in the particulate emissions without any increase in NOx emissions. The response of the locomotive to load and speed changes also demonstrated remarkable improvement. This technology development has been able to reduce the diesel fuel consumption by 4% and harmful emissions like smoke, particulate matter substantially. Project has been taken up now to convert all high-horse power diesel locomotives on IR to electronic fuel injection system. Testing in lab in the Engine Development Directorate of RDSO has started.
Your research at IIT Kanpur led to the introduction of B10 biodiesel blends on all diesel locomotives of Indian Railways. What do you see as the next big breakthrough in alternative propulsion systems for the railway industry?
A two degree rise in the atmospheric temperature will lead to destruction of earth. Scientists, engineers, industry, governments world over are developing new technologies to eliminate the use of fossil fuels for all sectors of society. IR has gone for 100% electrification of its routes likely to be completed by the year However, electricity generation in India is primarily based on coal (70%) and thus even 100% electrification or IR railway routes will not result in reduction of harmful emissions from the railway sector of India. Globally there is consensus that there is no single solution in the areas of renewable fuels, rather a basket of clean fuels and technologies have to be implemented to significantly reduce CO2 equivalent emissions and thus to prevent two degree rise in the atmospheric temperature. Renewable fuels/ energies will include biofuels, solar, wind, hydro- power and even nuclear power.
As a result of the R&D work done by me on use of biodiesel-diesel blends on diesel locomotive engines, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) is supplying diesel- biodiesel blended fuel with 7% biodiesel content by volume. This entails 7% reduction in diesel fuel consumption of IR (about 1.6 billion liters per annum). Biodiesel is however derived from organic mass, i.e. plant seeds, waste cooking oil, lard etc., hence there is a limitation on the availability of raw material for producing biodiesel. Alternate clean renewable fuels are therefore need of the hour for all industrial sectors. Methanol has been proven to be an alternate fuel for transportation industry. Methanol can be produced from agricultural waster, municipal waste, organic material and from indigenous high-ash content coal. Production process of methanol from indigenous high-ash content coal has been developed through Industry Academia collaboration (IIT Delhi and Thermax Pune). Another production process has been developed by BHEL at their pilot coal gasification plant at Trichi. Production of methanol through gasification of coal is a much cleaner process than combustion of coal in steam turbines to generate electricity. The CO2 equivalent emissions from coal fired steam turbine power plants is about 140 g/MJ whereas coal gasification to methanol plant produces only 60-70 g/MJ of CO2 equivalent.
I have taken up a project to convert all diesel locomotives to operate on methanol fuel. Testing with upto 15% methanol blend in diesel fuel have been successful in laboratory, project to replace 95% of diesel with methanol is advancing. Once developed this technology can also be used on diesel trucks, buses, diesel gensets, agriculture equipment which are the largest consumers of diesel fuel. Another area we are working is the design and development of fuel cell, battery hybrid power drive trains. First prototype is under manufacture at ICF Chennai and a major part of the development is being done by M/s Medha Servo Systems, Hyderabad. Fuel cell and hydrogen are however expensive and an eco-system has to be built in the country to design and manufacture low-cost fuel cells and use saline water and solar energy for production of green hydrogen.
A major breakthrough in propulsion system which I expect in next 20 years is the use of compact nuclear power plants to power heavy duty transportation vessels like ships, trains, trucks and buses. Fuel in these can last for more than 100 years and the spent fuel will be able to be recycled. This is a very promising area and Indian scientists and engineers should collaborate to work in the technology development.
In summary I will say that Indian Railways should have a basket of propulsion technologies at any time to ensure reliability of traction. IR should have electric locomotives, diesel/ methanol locomotives, fuel cell battery trains is different proportions. Sixty percent electric locomotives, thirty percent diesel/ methanol locomotives and ten percent fuel cell-battery trains appears to be a workable formula at the moment. Also IR needs to restart manufacture of methanol locomotives at BLW and PLW and have regular production of fuel cell-battery trains at ICF, RCF, MCF and private sector to ensure that the above percentages are maintained.
Implementing new technologies in a vast and established system like Indian Railways can be challenging. What have been some of the key challenges you have faced, and how did you navigate them?
Indian Railways has primary focus on Operations and Maintenance and R&D and new technology development are secondary. This is due to historic reasons. This is contrary to the global railway industry trends wherein R&D and new technology development are being used as the engines of growth and development. For example, Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) at Lucknow and Chinese Academy of Railway Sciences (CARS) were both established in the nineteen fifties. However today while CARS is one of the premium railway R&D organization globally, RDSO has been left far behind. RDSO still lacks a permanent scientific cadre whereas the CARS has an army of Scientists, Engineers , Innovators, Academicians and Industry experts working in collaboration to research new railway technology areas and develop and deploy new railway technologies. Today China has developed its own high speed rail technology (greater than 350 Km/h speeds) and constructed almost fifty thousand Km of high speed railway network and high speed trains whereas India is struggling to construct 500 Km of high speed track between Ahmedabad and Mumbai and that too with complete Japanese technology. Similarly the Chinese have upgraded their legacy railway tracks to 200Km/h capability whereas Indian Railways has primarily 110 to 130 Km/h speed fit tracks. China has developed their own magnetic levitation train and also developed a prototype hyperloop train with a maximum speed of 625 Km/h in a vacuum tube. CARS and other scientific, academic and engineering organisations have been the driving force for these spectacular indigenous railway technologies development in China. RDSO as a lot of catchingup to do.
One of the greatest challenges which I have faced in developing and implementing new technologies on IR is the lack of priority to railway research and innovation. RDSO research budget is less than Rs. 100 Cr whereas countries like S.Korea, Japan, China have railway research budget are in the range of Rs. 1-3 thousand Cr. RDSO the premier railway R&D organization of India does not have a permanent scientific cadre and therefore no expertise in any technology area. Officers are deputed on fixed tenures of 4-5 years to RDSO and then posted back to the field. These officers do not have the necessary degrees, PhD or expertise to work in the technology areas they are assigned to. Thus there is no culture for new railway technology development in RDSO and IR. This is the biggest impediment which I have faced in developing and deploying new railway technologies on IR.
Another major hurdle is the absence of suitable of business process for R&D work. For example, purchase and contracting processes are suitable of bulk purchases and are not suitable even for purchase/ project work for sophisticated technology products and services which is demanded by IR. Approvals are required at the highest level and the Directors, Executive Directors do not have sufficient financial powers to initiate R&D projects in their areas. The approvals processes are long drawn and convoluted and this is the main cause of the delays of projects. Open tendering system in R&D purchase and projects management is another serious hurdle in developing new indigenous railway technologies on Indian Railways.
In nutshell:
- Lack of permanent scientific cadre in RDSO and absence of scientific structure
- No incentive for talented persons with R&D aptitude to join RDSO, no provision for lateral induction of scientists and professionals in RDSO
- Inadequate and non-relevant business processes for R&D
- Lack of understanding of the R&D and technology development at the railway board level (being O&M oriented)
- Deficit of export orientation of IR
- Undue interference of finance in R&D projects, failures not accepted, constant fear of Vigilance and similar agencies in case the project fails. This is in stark contrast to professional R&D organisations where failures are considered an opportunity to learn and develop better technologies and products. Success rate in R&D projects world-wide is less than 10%, however budget is anywhere between 2-10% of the revenue. On IR budget on R&D is less than 0.1% of the revenue.
are some of the barriers which I have experienced in delivering new railway technology projects.
You are currently working on developing fuel-cell-based hybrid trainsets. Can you elaborate on the potential benefits of hybrid power trains and the steps being taken to bring this technology to the forefront of railway traction?
It is the mission of Indian Railways to become carbon neutral. Also Indian Railways is endeavoring to provide reliable and safe transportation services for movement of passengers and goods. As the use of fossil fuel is reduced on Indian Railways, there is need to consider alternate carbon neutral fuels and propulsion technologies for the trains. It is against this backdrop that Indian Railways has taken up projects to develop fuel cell and battery hybrid power tribes for its trains. Fuel cells are provided energy by flowing hydrogen gas through them which results in production of electricity and water vapour as byproduct. Thus the greatest benefit of using fuel cell and battery technology is elimination of all harmful emissions. Another important advantage of using fuel cell battery hybrid propulsion technology is the silent operation of the power plant. There is however the issue of higher cost of fuel cell and hydrogen. Also production of hydrogen through electrolysis requires demineralised water which is in scarcity in India. Some countries like Israel are developing technologies to produce hydrogen from saline water and solar energy. The cost of fuel cell is also high because of use of noble metals. Research is going on to develop low-cost fuel cells which use materials in abundance on earth. India as country needs to gather its act in this important area.
First fuel cell train of Indian Railways will be turned out from ICF Chennai in December 2024. Another 35 trains have been sanctioned by the Railway Board for hilly areas and stations of historic importance and tourism. RDSO is collaborating with academic institutes, industry and scientific organisations to develop indigenous and low-cost fuel cell and hydrogen production technologies. RDSO is also working on a project to develop fuel cell battery hybrid powered Gensets for its generator cars. These hybrid Gensets will replace the existing diesel engine based Gensets resulting in saving of diesel fuel and reduction of noise.
As someone specializing in Reliability Engineering and Prognostics Health Management, how do these fields contribute to enhancing the safety and efficiency of railway operations?
There has been a paradigm shift in the area of reliability and safety of assets in the transportation industry. Highest improvement in safety has been achieved by the aerospace industry. From 1970s to present day safety performance of the commercial aerospace industry has seen an order of magnitude improvement. This is because aerospace industry has moved from personal oriented to system oriented safety. The Japanese automotive industry has also used structured RAMS engineering to improve the reliability and safety of the road vehicles. Tools like failure modes effects and criticality analysis, fault tree analysis, event tree analysis, reliability block diagrams, hazards analysis from systems level to the manufacturing, operations and maintenance have been employed. All leading railways in the world use a structured RAMS framework to ensure high reliability, safety and maintainability of their assets, i.e rolling stock and infrastructure right from conceptual stage to manufacturing, operations and maintenance. Unfortunately Indian Railways has not kept abreast of these developments made in RAMS engineering and there is an urgent need to put in place a structured RAMS framework in place.
Railway board has sanctioned a project for implementation of EN 50126 RAMS standard for Rolling stock of Indian Railways. Prospective industry partners and academic linkages have been found. About 40 railway personnel are being trained in RAMA and reliability engineering. A draft proposal for implementation of RAMS for fixed infrastructure assets of IR is also under consideration.
Can you discuss the significance of your collaborative initiatives, such as the Center for Reliability and Integrated Systems Engineering at RDSO and the CoE on RAMS and PHM at IIT Kanpur, in fostering innovation and advancing railway technology?
There is an acute shortage of reliability engineers in India. Only one academic institute i.e. IIT Kharagpur has a post-graduation course in reliability engineering. IIT Kharagpur has a center dedicated to the study of reliability engineering as a specialty. Indian Railways do not have personnel with expertise in reliability engineering. It is in this background that a Centre for reliability and integrated Systems engineering was set up in RDSO in the year 2017. At the same time a collaborative initiative was started at IIT Kanpur to set up a Centre of Excellence in the area of RAMS and PHM. Another initiative to start a Masters program (distant learning) at Gautam Budh University at Noida has been started. All three initiatives are to take off once the proof of concept work for implementation of RAMS for the rolling stock of IR begins (expected in another two months). A Common Resource Center has already started functioning in RDSO and the Center for Reliability and Integrated Systems engineering will be part of the common resource center. These initiatives will help in building reliability expertise on Indian Railways and also in other private and government industrial sectors in country. India has to do a lot of catching up in this area especially as compared to countries like China, S.Korea, Japan, Australia etc.
Implementation of RAMS and PHM formally on IR will allow it to move from preventive maintenance to predictive maintenance thus reducing the cost of maintenance from existing Rs. 45 thousand Cr to less than Rs. 20 thousand Cr and simultaneously increasing the availability of assets for revenue service and assure zero accidents. Other advanced railways have already demonstrated above benefits in adoption of a framework of RAMS and PHM in asset management and there is no reason why Indian Railways cannot also reap the same/ similar benefits.
If you have to head the Indian Railways what would be your priorities to make IR world-class?
Following is my list of priorities to make IR the global leader in railway and guided transportation.
- Upgrade the exi sting track on IR to speed capability of 200 Km/h . Only then the full benefit of trains like Vande Bharat can be realised. Passengers today do not have time and patience to carry out long journeys (time-wise). Competition from air transport is strong and IR has to provide cost effective solutions to the short journey times demands from the people. From anywhere to any where in the country the railway journey time should not exceed 10-12 hours for passenger trains (say from Leh to Chennai) and 20-22 hours for freight trains. Therefore having the high speed capacity tracks and bridges is the need of the hour. Chinese Railways have already done this for their legacy tracks in six speed enhancing drives. A similar approach must be followed by IR considering the large size of India. Shortest possible journey times is the first and foremost priority of a passenger. Similar short journey times for freight movement through railways is the need of the industry. This enhancement of the track and bridges speeds will allow IR to become the backbone for implementation of the PM Gati Shakti master plan.
- Establish a strong railway research and innovation ecosystem in India by a) Making RDSO a proper R&D organization (proposals with the Railway Board already), b) Strengthen the Centers for Railway Research established by Min. of Railways at IIT Kharagpur, Madras, Kanpur and Roorkee and set-up additional Centers for Railway Research in more IITs. Have a collaboration set-up with Industry, Academia, R&D organizations in India and abroad and RDSO to develop novel indigenous railway technologies in India. India should become a net exporter of railway technologies and products to the world.
- Develop indigenous High- Speed technol ogies (>350 Km/h ) through the railway research and innovation eco-system of India. China has set-up close to 50 thousand Km of high-speed network by developing indigenous technologies in high-speed area.
- Develop indigenous technologies in the area of magnetic levitation and hyperloop. Other advanced countries are already much ahead of India in development of these technologies.
- Following the pattern of induction of officers by Indian Defence (NDA and CDS), Min. of Rlys should also induct 50% of its civil, electrical, electronics, mechanical engineers after class 12th (similar to erstwhile SCRA scheme) and the balance 50% after graduation through a common institute for complete integration and eliminate any and all departmentalism.
- Parallel induction of professionals into IR starting from Selection Grade and above through UPSC. Selections for Level 15,16 and 17 through open competition by making use of UPSC and other professional recruitment organisations.
- All Production Units to be corporatized by creating Public-Private joint enterprise and bringing all PUs under this joint enterprise. India is not able to export in the global railway market because of poor productivity and quality of its PUs especially when compared to Japanese, Koreans, Chinese and the Europeans. PUs to be manned by professionals and experts only. The global railroad market size was valued at USD 281.24 billion (Rs. 26.7 Lakh Cr) in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6% from 2023 to 2030. India has negligible share in this market hence the need for paradigm reforms of the railway production units.
- All maintenance activities to be brought under another Public-Private joint enterprise to enhance the productivity and decrease the cost of maintenance which is very high compared to world standards. For example locomotives maintenance sheds of IR employ 4 maintenance persons per locomotive whereas companies like WABTEC and ALSTOM have one maintenance personnel per locomotive.
- Financial stake of the IR employees in the Public-Private ventures for personal involvement in the growth and development of IR.
- A overarching Ministry of Transport to be created in which road, rail, waterways, airways ministry are the participating ministries. This will facilitate in creating a single Indian Transport Area for Indian Citizens to enjoy seamless journeys across different modes, reduce the logistics cost and enhance the quality of journeys.
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