INDUSTRIAL TRAINING REPORT ON

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM IN
INDIAN RAILWAYS

ORGANIZATION:- EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY, BARAUNI

Under The Guidance of:Mr. P.S Chakravartty
Senior Section Engineer (Signal & Telecommunication)
Telecom, D.R.M. Office SONPUR

INDIAN RAILWAYS
INTRODUCTION:Indian Railway is the state-owned railway company of India, which owns and operates most of
the country's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government
of India.
India boasts one of the worlds largest railway network in the world. Every day, 20million people travel
around the country in hundreds of trains running between various stations smoothly and safely.
The formal inauguration ceremony of IR was performed on 16th April 1853, with the first
passenger train steamed out of Howrah station destined for Hooghly, adistance of 36 km, on 15th
August, 1854 .

SNAPSHORTS :

It encompasses 6,909 stations over a total route length of more than 63,028 kilometres of
route length and a track length of 111,600 km.

.It is one of the world's largest commercial or utility employers, with more than1.6
million employees.

It moves 2 million tons of freight & 20 million peopledaily across the county with the
help of 200,000 (freight) wagons.

7,000 passenger trains across the country services 20 million people totheir destinations .

Mr Vinay mittal is the current Chairman of Railway Board .

Organisational Structure:IR is a department owned and controlled by the Government of India, the Ministry of Railways
IR is administered by the Railway Board, which has a financial commissioner, five members and
a chairman.

RAILWAY ZONES:IR is divided into zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in
Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1952, and finally16 in 2003. Each
zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each havinga divisional headquarters.
There are a total of 67 divisions under 16 zones, presently operating in the country .
.
S.NO

NAME

HEADQUARTES

DEVISIONS

1
2

.Central
East Central

Mumbai
Hajipur

Mumbai, Bhusawal, Pune, Solapur, Nagpur

Danapur, Dhanbad, Mughalsarai, Samastipur,Sonpur

3.

East Coast

Bhubaneswar

Khurda Road, Sambalpur, Visakhapatnam

4.

Eastern

Kolkata

Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Malda

5.

North Central

Allahabad

Allahabad, Agra, Jhansi

6.
7.

North Eastern
North Western

Gorakhpur
Jaipur

Izzatnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi

Jaipur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur

8.

Guwahati

Alipurduar,Katihar, Lumding, Rangia, Tinsukia

9.
10

Northeast Fronti
er
Northern
South Central

Delhi
Secunderabad

11

SouthEast

Bilaspur,CG

Delhi, Ambala, Firozpur, Lucknow, Moradabad

Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Guntakal, Guntur,Nanded
, Vijayawada
Bilaspur,Raipur, Nagpur

12

Central
.South Eastern

Kolkata

Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, Ranchi

13
.14.

South Western
Southern

Hubli
Chennai

15

Chennai
West Central

Hubli, Bangalore, Mysore

Chennai, Madurai, Palakkad, Salem,Tiruchchirapalli,
Thiruvanathapuram

Jabalpur

Jabalpur, Bhopal, Kota

16

Western

. Mumbai

Mumbai Central, Vadodara, Ratlam,Ahmedabad,

Rajkot, Bhavnagar

Each of the 16 zones, is headed by a General Manager (GM) who reports directly to the Railway
Board. The zones are further divided into divisions under the control of Divisional Railway
Managers (DRM).The divisional officers of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and

telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial and safety branches report to the
respective Divisional Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further
down the hierarchy tree are the Station Masters who control individual stations and the train
movement through the track territory under their stations' administration.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION MEDIA USED

The communication links making up the data network may be over a combination of any of
the following media:
1. Twisted pair copper wires
2. Analog and digital microwave links
3. Optical fibre cables
4. VSAT(very small aperture network) satellite communication
For local area network (LAN) within a same building optic fibre cable/cat 6 cables are used. For
wide area network which is an interconnection of LANs with communication links of required
speed optical fibre cables are used as a communication media for better transmission result.

1.

Twisted pair copper wires:-

Twisted pair cabling is a type of wiring in which two conductors of a single circuit are twisted
together for the purposes of canceling out electromagnetic interference (EMI) from external
sources; for instance, electromagnetic radiation from unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cables, and
crosstalk between neighboring pair In balanced pair operation, the two wires carry equal and

opposite signals and the destination detects the difference between the two. This is known as
differential mode transmission. Noise sources introduce signals into the wires by coupling of
electric or magnetic fields and tend to couple to both wires equally. The noise thus produces a
common-mode signal which is cancelled at the receiver when the difference signal is taken.This
method starts to fail when the noise source is close to the signal wires; the closer wire will couple
with the noise more strongly and the common-mode rejection of the receiver will fail to
eliminate it. This problem is especially apparent in telecommunication cables where pairs in the
same cable lie next to each other for many miles. One pair can induce crosstalk in another and it
is additive along the length of the cable. Twisting the pairs counters this effect as on each half
twist the wire nearest to the noise-source is exchanged.
Providing the interfering source remains uniform, or nearly so, over the distance of a single twist,
the induced noise will remain common-mode. Differential signaling also reduces electromagnetic
radiation from the cable, along with the associated attenuation allowing for greater distance
between exchanges.
The twist rate (also called pitch of the twist, usually defined in twists per meter) makes up part of
the specification for a given type of cable. Where nearby pairs have equal twist rates, the same
conductors of the different pairs may repeatedly lie next to each other, partially undoing the
benefits of differential mode. For this reason it is commonly specified that, at least for cables
containing small numbers of pairs, the twist rates must differ.
In contrast to FTP (foiled twisted pair) and STP (shielded twisted pair)
cabling, UTP (unshielded twisted pair) cable is not surrounded by any shielding. It is the primary
wire type for telephone usage and is very common for computer networking, especially as patch
cables or temporary network connections due to the high flexibility of the cables.
Minor twisted pair variants:-

Loaded twisted pair:A twisted pair that has intentionally added inductance, formerly common practice on
telecommunication lines. The added inductors are known as load coils and reduce attenuation
for voice band frequencies but increase it on higher frequencies. Load coils cause distortion in

voiceband on very long lines. In this context a line without load coils is referred to as an
unloaded line.

Bonded twisted pair:A twisted pair variant in which the pairs are individually bonded to increase robustness of the
cable. Pioneered by Belden, it means the electrical specifications of the cable are maintained
despite rough handling.

Twisted ribbon cable:A variant of standard ribbon cable in which adjacent pairs of conductors are bonded and twisted
together. The twisted pairs are then lightly bonded to each other in a ribbon format. Periodically
along the ribbon there are short sections with no twisting to enable connectors and pcb headers to
be terminated using the usual ribbon cable IDC techniques.
cables.

ADVANTAGES:

It is a thin, flexible cable that is easy to string between walls.

More lines can be run through the same wiring ducts

UTP costs less per meter/foot than any other type of LAN cable.

Electrical noise going into or coming from the cable can be prevented.

Cross-talk is minimized.

DISADVANTAGES:Twisted pairs susceptibility to electromagnetic interference greatly depends on the pair

twisting schemes (usually patented by the manufacturers) staying intact during the
installation. As a result, twisted pair cables usually have stringent requirements for maximum
pulling tension as well as minimum bend radius. This relative fragility of twisted pair cables
makes the installation practices an important part of ensuring the cables performance.

In video applications that send information across multiple parallel signal wires, twisted pair
cabling can introduce signaling delays known as skew which results in subtle color defects
and ghosting due to the image components not aligning correctly when recombined in the
display device. The skew occurs because twisted pairs within the same cable often use a
different number of twists per meter so as to prevent crosstalk between pairs with identical
numbers of twists. The skew can be compensated by varying the length of pairs in the
termination box, so as to introduce delay lines that take up the slack between shorter and
longer pairs, though the precise lengths required are difficult to calculate and vary depending
on the overall cable length.

Analog and digital microwave links:Microwave link:A microwave link is a communications system that uses a beam of radio waves in themicrowave
frequency range to transmit video, audio, or data between two locations, which can be from just
a few feet or meters to several miles or kilometers apart. Microwave links are commonly used by
television broadcasters to transmit programmes across a country, for instance, or from an outside
broadcast back to a studio.
Mobile units can be camera mounted, allowing cameras the freedom to move around without
trailing cables. These are often seen on the touchlines of sports fields on Steadicam systems.

Properties of microwave links:

Involve line of sight (LOS) communication technology.

Affected greatly by environmental constraints, including rain fade.

Have very limited penetration capabilities through obstacles such as hills, buildings and trees

Sensitive to high pollen count

Signals can be degraded during Solar proton events.

Uses of microwave links:

In communications between satellites and base stations

As backbone carriers for cellular systems

In short range indoor communications

Telecommunications, in linking remote and regional telephone exchanges to larger (main)

exchanges without the need for copper/optical fibre lines.

TYPES OF SYSTEM
Following multichannel radio system are working on Indian Railways:
(a) UHF : 12,24,60,120 channel analog &10,30, 120 channel digital
(b) Microwave: 60,120,300, 960 channel analog and 2 Mbit, 8 Mbit, (34+2) Mbit digital

UHF ANTENNA:
The UHF antenna shall be of following types:
(a) YAGI ANTENNA : These are directly fed antennas providing a gain of 8-12 dB depending
on the no of elements and frequency.
(b) CORNER REFLECTOR ANTENNA: These are used with dipole feeder, providing a gain
of 10-15 dB, depending upon the size and frequency.
(c) GRIDPARABOLIC ANTENNA: These antennae are used with dipole feeder and grid
parabolic reflector. The gain provided by these antennae are in the range of 12-25 dB depending
upon the size and frequency.
UHF FEEDER CABLE:
(a) Flexible coaxial copper cable, air or dielectric types of approved specification shall be used
as the feeder cable for UHF specifications. Either 7/8" or 11/8 dia cables are generally
recommended for UHF frequencies.
(b) Flexible coaxial jumper cable of about 1M length shall be used at either end of the main
feeder cable to connect the antenna and the radio equipment.

(c) The characteristics impedance of the feeder cable shall be same as that of the radio and
antenna.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FEEDER CABLE:
The selection of the feeder cable shall be passed on the following characteristics:
i) Impedance
ii) Frequency Band
iii) Attenuation
iv) Power rating
v) Size & Weight
vi) Flexibility
vii) Cost

MICROWAVE ANTENNA
The microwave antenna may be of following types :
(a) STANDARD PERFORMANCE ANTENNA:(SP)
These are economical type of antenna suitable for low density routes.
(b) LOW VSWR ANTENNA:
These antenna are the same type of parabolic reflectors as a standard performance antenna, but
includes especially tuned low VSWR feeds to minimize echo distortion.(c)

HIGH

PERFORMANCE ANTENNA (HP)

These antennae use tuned low VSWR feed and high directivity shields called shroud. These are
useful in congested areas for proper interference coordination.
(d)RADOMES
Radomes may be used to cover the antenna from dust, fog, rain or any other external objects.
The radomes may be flexible or rigid type. All high performance antenna shall be provided with
radomes.

SELECTION OF THE ANTENNA

The selection of the antenna shall be based on following factors:
a) Frequency Band
b) Gain
c) Half Power Bandwidth
d) Front to Back Ratio

e) VSWR
f) Cross Polarisation Discrimination
g) Size and Weight
h) Wind load
i) Maximum sustainable wind speed
and the beam deflection thereof
j) Economy

WAVEGUIDE TYPES:
Following types shall be used:
(a) Rectangular
(b) Elliptical
(c) Circular
i) RECTANGULAR WAVEGUIDE
For relatively short runs, where the loss of the waveguide is not critical, rigid
rectangular waveguide may be used.
ii) ELLIPTICAL WAVEGUIDE
Flexible elliptical waveguide shall be of cost economically used as the microwave
feeder.
iii) CIRCULAR WAVEGUIDE
Circular waveguide shall be used where very low attenuation of feeder or
simultaneous transmission of two carrier at different polarisation are envisaged.
iv) FLEXIBLE TWISTABLE WAVEGUIDE
For special angles and twists in the waveguide run and also for connection to the
antenna and radio equipment, flexible twistable rectangular waveguide shall be used.

OPTICAL FIBRE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

BLOCK DIAGRAM OF OFC COMMUNICATION

OPTICAL FIBER CABLE

Limitations of copper network

Copper is costlier and scarce material.

Fault prone.

Maintenance difficult

Vulnerable for EMI.

Installation time consuming

Advantages of Optic Fibre

More Bandwidth - Thousands of Channels

Low Loss - 0.5db per km

Less number of Repeaters

Electro Magnetic Immunity

Small size & Light Weight - Easy to handle

Greater Safety - No Electric Hazards

Higher Security

OFC Applications

Telecommunication Network

Junction Network & Long Distance Network

Submarine cable

High EMI areas

Explosive environment

Computer links & Local Area Network

Cable television

Medical Field , Automobile Field

OFC Construction
Construction of Fibre

Centre Core Glass More RI 8-10 micrometer

Light is transmitted through the core

Cladding Glass Less RI 125 micro meter

--Outside optical layer that traps the light into the core by Total Internal Reflection and guides
the light along the core

Primary Coating Protection & Identification of Fibre

Principle of Working
TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

TIR is achieved since Core and Cladding having different Refractive Indices.
Core RI
1.48
Cladding RI 1.47

Centre Strengthening Member GRP, FRP

Loose Tube Buffers 2.4 mm Dia, Fibres are
Primary Strength Member Aramid Yarn

placed inside along with jelly.

 Inner Sheath Black

Outer Nylon Sheath - Orange

PROPAGATION OF LIGHT INSIDE THE FIBRE

OFC TYPES

Single Mode Fibre

Multi Mode Fibre
Plastic Optic Fibre

OFC Sizes
6 Fibre
12 Fibre
24 Fibre
48 Fibre
96 Fibre
Standard drum length is 2000M +10% 0r 4000 m

DIGITAL MULTIPLEXING EQUIPMENT

PRINCIPLE OF DIGITAL MULTIPLEXER:All digital multiplexing equipment shall be based on 2048 Kbps; PDH 8.448/34.368Mbps, SDH
(STM -1, STM -4 , STM 16 or higher) 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps (Ethernet) based
hierarchy.

MEDIA OF TRANSMISSION
- Digital UHF/MICROWAVE relay system
- Symmetric cable pairs / HDSL modems
- Star quad cable in 25 KV AC electrified areas
- Optical fibre

PRIMARY MULTIPLEXING EQUIPMENT

(a) This equipment shall multiplex 30 analogue and/or data channel to 2048 kbps ITU
compatible digital stream on transmit side and on receive side, it shall demultiplex ITU
compatible 2048 kbps digital stream to 30 analogue voice /data channels.
(b) Following type of primary multiplexers are in use.

TERMINAL MUX
It shall have one 2048 kbps port each for trans and receive side and shall be used as end
multiplexer.

PRIMARY DROP/INSERT MUX

This shall have at least two 2048 kbps ports (P1 and P2 port) each for send and receive side. It
shall be possible in drop/insert any channel to P1/P2 port or make a time slot through P1 port to
P2 port and vice versa.

DROP/INSERT MUX WITH CONFERENCE FACILITY

Its function is similar to drop insert MUX described above with additional facility of at least 3
party conference between any combination of time slots of either P1 port or P2 port and voice
interface.

TYPE OF INTERFACE CARDS FOR THE PRIMARY

MULTIPLEXER
Following types of interface cards are provided in primary digital
multiplexer
- 2W speech card with E&M Signalling
- 4W speech card with E&M signalling
- Exchange end interface cards
- Subscriber side interface cards

- Hotline interface cards

- Magneto telephone interface cards
- Conference circuits, omnibus voice circuits
- Data interface cards of various types like
(i) G703 codirectional/contradirectional
(ii) V.24/RS232C interface
(iii) V.35 interface
(iv) NX64 Kbps data interface cards etc

Second Order Multiplexing Equipment

This equipment shall convert four 2048 kbps tributary signal into a 8448
kbps digital signal and vice versa with positive justification.

Third Order Multiplexing Equipment

This equipment shall convert four 8448 kbps tributary signal into a
34368 kbps signal and vice versa with positive justification.

Third Order Skip Multiplexer

This equipment shall convert sixteen 2048 kbps tributaries signal into a 34368 kbps signal and
vice versa with positive justification.

Third Order Drop Insert Multiplexer

This equipment shall be used for dropping inserting either 8448 kbps
tributary or 2048 kbps tributary from/to 34368 kbps main tributary signal
and vice versa with positive justification.
All digital multiplexing equipment shall be as per approved specification
of RDSO.

CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERFACE
Bit rate, Code, Characteristics of output and input ports for various
interfaces are as under :
ITEM 2048 Kbit/s 8448 Kbit/s 34368 Kbit/s

PORT PORT PORT

(a) BIT RATE 2048 Kbit/s 8448 Kbit/s 34368 Kbit/s + 50 PPM + 30 PPM + 20 PPM
(b) Code HDB3 HDB3 HDB3

OUTPUT PORT :
(a) Pulse shape Rectangular Rectangular Rectangularas per ITU-T as per ITU-T as per ITU-T
G.703 G.703 G.703
(b) Pulse peak 2.37V/75 2.37V/75 2.37V/75 voltage/ ohm ohm ohm impedance or 3.0v/120 ohm
(c) Normal pulse 244 ns 59 ns 14.55 ns width

INPUT PORT :
(a) Permissible F law F law F law attenuation 0-6 db 0-6 db 0-12 db at 1024 Khz at 4224 Khz at
17184 Khz
(b) RETURN LOSS Frequency Corresponding to normal bit rate 2.5% to 5% 12 12 12 5% to
100% 18 18 18 100% to 150% 14 14 14

REQUIREMENT OF SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

(i) The overall system performance with the proposed transmission media shall be so designed
and ensured that it meets ITU-Tparameters. The system availability shall be at least 99.5%.
(ii) The characteristic of complete circuit shall be measured on the basis of audio frequency
4W/2W interface in respect of characteristic and parameters defined in ITU-T G.712.

PLANNING AND SYSTEM DESIGN

OPTICAL FIBRE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM SHALL BE
PROVIDED FOR FOLLOWING
TYPES OF COMMUNICATION NEEDS: (a) Control Communication with emergency communication
(b) Administrative voice and data communication.
(c) Both for control and long haul communication backbone for mobile train
radio communication.
Composite Cables (8/24 Fibre + 6 Quad) as per RDSO specification
shall be used. Short Haul Communication will be on STM-1 System and
Primary Digital Multiplexers (PDMUX). For back up a second pair of
Fibre shall be used.
c) Replacement of existing overhead/RE quad cable for control
communication.

THE OBJECTIVES FOR THE SYSTEM DESIGN FOR THE

ABOVE TYPES OF
COMMUNICATION ARE AS UNDER :(a) Location of optic fibre stations and regenerators.
(b) Optical loss budget of each block section. While calculating the Optical
loss budget, following will be taken into consideration:
a. Equipment margin : 2 dB
b. Connector loss : 2 dB
c. Cable margin : 0.1 dB per Km.
d. System operational margin: 0.03 dB per Km.
e. Splice loss : 0.2 dB per Km.
(c) Requirement of system capacity to meet present and future channel
requirements.
(d) Availability of the system.
(e) Total expected jitter of the system.
(f) Design of power supply system for each station.
(g) Preparation of an estimate.

CAPACITY OF FIBRE OPTIC SYSTEM.

a) For Control Communication application, SDH System having capacityof STM-1 shall be used.
Generally, one E1 shall be used for variouscontrol applications.
b) For Long Haul Communication, SDH System with capacity of STM-4 or above shall be used.

PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF OPTIC FIBRE CABLE

ROUTE
Preliminary survey shall be carried out for finalizing the drawing for the route of optical fibre
cable as a part of project planning and execution.

Following main items of work shall constitute the survey.

*Selecting the route in general.
*Deciding the number of drop and insert locations.
*Deciding the size and assessing the length of cable required.
*Working out the requirement of circuits which are to be provided in the cable.
*Working out the requirements of heavy tools and plants depending upon the nature of the
territory, availability of roads along the tracks,etc.
*Assessing the special problems of the section such as type of soil,long cuttings, new
embankments, water logged areas, types of major bridges, major yards. Collecting details of the
existing telecommunication facilities and the additional requirements due to electrification and
preparing tentative tapping diagrams.
*Assessing the number of track crossings and other protective works required to be done.
*Avoiding as far as possible laying of cable too close to a newly laid track.
*Avoiding the toe of the embankment adjacent to the cultivated Fields.
*Avoiding burrow pits and areas prone to water logging.
*Avoiding soil made up of cinders, coal ashes, etc.

PASSENGER INFORMATION SYSTEM:DEFINITIONS:A method or technological gadget to give information to public about status of Train running /
rescheduling / accident etc. to the passenger in Person or remotely. Status of Reservation either
on Public Telephone lines or on Internet.

Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS):Interactive Voice Response System, the technical system giving the information of Train
Running, Passenger PNR etc. on a PSTN / Mobile Network through a centralized data base,
which is at present maintained at Divisions / HQ./ CRIS or through NTES servers.
It is an IVRS System, generally provided as stand alone system, to give the information to public
on PSTN Telephone either for Train Running Information or to work as Announcement System
in Platform with suitable interface to PA System.

Train Indicator:It is a display device which gives the information regarding running of Train Arrival / Departure
timing and Platform No. etc. The system is either operated locally at a particular station or can be
fed from Central location. They are mainly provided at Platform and Public utility location.

Coach Guidance System:It is a display device, which indicates the position of each coach from engine with description of
train number and Coach position.

Master Slave Clock:(a). Master Clock is a Controlling Clock in Railway premises, which drives the other
Slave Clocks in the same or remote premises to keep uniform timing.
(b). Slave Clocks are the clocks in the Railway premises driven by the Master Clock.
(c). Global Positioning System (GPS) can be followed in Railway to have GPS Clock in control
office to work as Master Clock. This can drive all slave clocks either in same premises or
through separate networking to distant location. Slave clocks can also have independent GPS
module, in that case no master clock is required.

Minimum Essential Recommended

1. PA System
2. 2 IVRS 3
3. . Clocks
4. Coach Guidance System
5. Train Display Board
6. Enquiry & Computer Announcement System
.IVRS

ON LINE TRAIN RUNNING INFORMATION

SYSTEM:INTRODUCTION:-

Passenger / Public can access this system through PSTN network or through Web Site
www.indianrail.gov.in & http://www.trainenquiry.com.
Through PSTN network, Passenger / Public can get On Line Train Running
Information in three languages i.e. Hindi, English & Local Language, through voice guidance to
select languages and train No.
All over Indian Railways the system has been provided through NTES (National Train Enquiry
System) for getting running position of Trains.
On Line Train Information System : The status of the train data, for giving the On Line
Information System can be fed through any of the ways:
i. Manual Input data by taking the position from the Control office and feeding to NTES
terminal.
ii. Manual feeding of the data on the respective location at the Control office where the input
terminals are provided for periodically up dating the Train information by obtaining the data
from the Control office.
iii. By taking the input automatically from the "Control Charting System".
On Line Train Information System can be located at the following locations:

ON LINE TRAIN INFORMATION SYSTEM AT

STATION.:At the individual station, where the system input is fed by the Stationmaster/
Supervisory Staff at stations "as stand alone system. The information is up dated periodically.
When any predefined number is dialed the caller get the information of the train for fixed
duration.

TYPES OF DIFFERENT DATA NETWORKING

USED IN INDIAN RAILWAYS
The various applications are utilised to meet present and future challenges and to fulfil the
complete information and accountal of the Indian Railways business. The main few systems data
network systems are as under:

1. Passenger reservation system (PRS)

2. Unreserved ticketing system (UTS)
3. National train enquiry system (NTES)
4. Freight operations information system (FOIS)
5. Crew management system
6. Management information system (MIS)
7. Material management information system (MMIS)
8. Coaching operation information system (COIS)
9. Interactive voice response system (IVRS)
10. Passengers operated enquiry terminal (POET)
Beside this above coach guidance, boards, train time display boards and digital clocks are also
introduced in Indian Railways for better information to the passengers.

1.Passenger

reservation

system

(PRS):-

passenger reservation system used in the Railway for advance reservation all
over India in the existing running trains. Basically this system was connected
between five major cities of India known as Pandav having main servers there.

2. UTS- for the accurate and quick booking of Railway tickets UTS system is
being introduced at several stations of Indian Railways resulting a fast
booking of tickets and collection of fair.

3.NATIONAL TRAIN ENQUIRY SYSTEM (NTES)

- using a centralised train information system and NTES is introduced for easy
enquiry regarding train positions from anywhere by dialing a BSNL number.

4.FOIS

- this system is a intranet networking within India to keep the

information of goods cargo all over India by using a master computer at Rail
Bhavan and many nodes throughout Indian Railways.

5. CREW MANAGEMENT SYSTEM crew management system and

management information system and other material management information system are
used for Railways different management system.

IVRS giving the information of train running, passenger PNR etc on a PSTN(public system
telephone n/w) through a centralised database which is at present maintained at
HQ/CRIS(head quarter/centre for railway information system) or through NTES servers.
POET is used for the PNR enquiry/confirmation of reservation system installed at major
stations.
The stated above is the idea of general knowledge towards data communication system in
Indian Railways.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION MEDIA USED

The communication links making up the data network may be over a combination of any of
the following media:
5. Twisted pair copper wires
6. Analog and digital microwave links
7. Optical fibre cables
8. VSAT(very small aperture network) satellite communication
For local area network (LAN) within a same building optic fibre cable/cat 6 cables are used. For
wide area network which is an interconnection of LANs with communication links of required
speed optical fibre cables are used as a communication media for better transmission result.

APPLIED NETWORK TOPOLOGIES:

The network topologies commonly used for LAN are:
1. BUS data devices are connected to a common bus which is linear.
2. RING

data devices are connected in a ring from which gives an alternative path
during failure of any one link. In Indian Railways this type of topologies is widely used
due to probability of link failures.

3. STAR/ HUB

number of data devices connected to a data device at a central

location. In this regard an interconnection of data devices using speeds of
10Mbps/100Mbps/1Gbps is known as LAN (local area network).

4. Combination of above.
The network topology is to be deciding according to the type, size and requirement of
application. Mesh architecture is recommended at the core and distribution level.
Network path protection is 100% required in Railway data operation due to
frequent failures in the link. This can be achieved by providing of an alternative path. This is
provided by RCIL in the Railways.

Combination/tree architecture

DETAILS OF NETWORK DEVICES:

It is necessary to allow access to Railway data network for the public to access
information from application such as PRS, NTES, FOIS, claims information system etc.
Therefore such access through Internet is permitted at a single point in the network and the
gateway is protected through provision of firewalls etc. The various devices used in the data
network other than the node in Railways are as under:

Non- IP networks:
Modems: V.24, RS-232.
Statistical multiplexers
Line drivers

IP networks:
MODEMS:
HUB:

(64Kbps/2Mbps) V.35, G.703.

Ethernet (10/100/100 Mbps) IEEE 802.

SWITCHES (LEVEL 2): Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps)

Managed switches (level 3): Ethernet (10/100/1000Mbps)
LAN extenders.

ROUTERS: a) Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps)

b) WAN ports (64 Kbps, 2Mbps), ISDN, Voice etc.

FIREWALLS:
soft switch (for VOID applications): H323, SIP
Gateways
Link balancers
The complexity of the data devices will depend on their capabilities to handle various
functionalities like support for VPN, data encryption, data handling, comparison, memory, data
logging, remote configuration, number of codes, expandability and security etc.

1) G.703 MODEM(converter)

2) V.35 MODEM

3) CONNECTION

4) CISCO-SWITCH AND ROUTER

5) WAN-PORT ARCHITECTURE

TOOLS AND MEASURING EQUIPMENTS:

Fault diagnosis is the main part of any data link and it is categorised into three parts:

Hardware, software and media/channel.

For this diagnosis these majoring equipments are used:
1. Communication analyser
2. Ethernet analyser
3. Protocol analyser
4. The measuring instrument generally used are: BER (bit error rate) meter , LAN cable
meter and other related measuring instrument.
The software part like IOS of routers and other intelligent equipments can be checked or
upgraded to higher versions depending on the type of the fault encountered. The bit error rate of
the media/channel is generally measured to know the percentage of errors and other related
information.

OTHER DETAILS AT GLANCE:

Any data network requires the following factors for smooth running of the system:

NETWORK SECURITY: only the intended receiver should receive data sender.
This is achieved through encryption at various levels. The various data encryption standard are
IP sec, DES, 3DES, AES, private/public key.

ACCESS CONTROL:

the access control protocol performs three function

authentication, authorisation and accounting.

AUTHENTICATION

is the process of identifying and verifying a

user. Only authorised personal should be permitted access to use the network
resources. This is achieved through password protection.

AUTHORISATION
authenticated.

determines what a user can do after being

ACCOUNTING is recording what a user is doing or has done.

NETWORKING

all computers on the network should be protected

against viruses by installing suitable antivirus software because virus can also
slow down the network speed apart from affecting the computer network. All the
servers should be protected by firewalls.

NETWORK SCALABILITY: it should be possible to add new

network devices either at existing locations or at new locations by extending the
WAN. Therefore network components should be selected to permit scalability. At
least 25% spare equipments like modems, Hubs, UPS, switches, LAN extenders
PCs to be arranged for efficient maintenance of the network.

Network convergence:

a single data network can support many

applications through selection of proper network devices like routers etc. It is

better to have separate n/w for management information systems and for critical
applications like PRS, FOIS, UTS having financial databases and transactions.
Hence the operation of these systems is required to be very carefully and in a
very coordinate manner.

CONCLUSION:
In this project I have studied few types of data networks functioning over
Indian Railways and year-by-year rapid expansion of the networks taking place to fulfil the
present demands in the business by using different types of software. Besides these more and
more data systems are used in passengers information system like interactive voice response
system (IVRS), computerised announcement system, train indicators, coach guidance system and
online train running information system are still more to study. These are very interesting
subjects towards computer application for public amenities.
Further the advancement of data communication to be achieved by
Indian Railways through very small aperture terminal (VSAT) networks which is used through
satellite communication system. Therefore, as mentioned above is a small study of different type

of software/data communication systems in Indian Railways. It is hereby concluded that it will

be a small clear light to familiar with the digital/data communication in Indian Railways.

TELEPHONE EXCHANGE & TRUNK EXCHANGE

EXCHANGES :
All Telephone Exchanges shall be
* Automatic
* Electronic
* Digital
* Stored Programme Controlled (SPC)
* Pulse Code Modulation (PCM, Time Division
Multiplexing (TDM) technology.
The exchanges shall be Transit cum Local Exchanges providing connectivity between
* Subscriber to Subscriber
* Subscriber to trunk
* Trunk to Subscriber
* Trunk to trunk
Separate trunk Automatic Exchange shall be provided at Zonal Railway Headquarter for Indian
Railways Network. The transit functions at other places shall be integratedin the Local-cumTransit Exchange.The manual trunk connections shall be provided through Operate consoles
(Attendant Consoles). The Operator Console shall be an integral part of the Exchange. Separate
manual trunk exchange are not required to be provided.

ATTENDANT CONSOLES :

The attendant consoles which replaces the Trunk Boards shall be an integrated part of the
exchange. This shall assist the trunk operator to provide Trunk connections. Facility shall exist to
monitor the calls. Busy indication of the trunk shall be available.
Head phones shall be provided with Attendant console.

SUBSCRIBER TELEPHONE SET :

All telephones shall be push button type. The signalling may be decadic or DTMF type. The
telephones shall be of the following type
- Ordinary
- Secretary and Executive type
- Digital
- Magneto
- 4 wire
The IR (Indian Railway) exchange network is a hierarchical architecture with 3 levels. Highest
level - Zonal Head Quarters (ZHQ) and Railway Board (RB)
Medium level - Divisional HQ (DHQ)
Lowest level - Important activity centres
The exchanges shall be interconnected using manual trunks through Trunk Operators or
through Subscriber Trunk Dialing (STD) channels. Where digital transmission system is

planned, the ZHQ to DHQ and DHQ to important location exchange shall be connected through
high speed 2 MB/s (30 channel) trunk groups. All exchange shall be available on IR STD
network subjected to availability of channels. Each exchange shall have a distinct STD code.
Alternate routing shall be provided as far as possible.
Wherever possible interconnection to DOT exchange shall be provided through Direct Inward
Dialing (DID) and Direct Outward Dialing(DOD) facility. The traffic for such trunk lines shall
be taken as 0.8 Erlang/Trunk line and calculation of trunk lines shall be done accordingly.

SPECIFICATION & PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS

The digital exchanges shall be of the following basic capacity and shall be modularly
expandable.

128 port
256 ports
512 ports
1024

ts

3. VSAT(very small aperture network) satellite

communication:INTRODUCTION:VSAT provides Point to Point or Point to Multi Point data connectivity using Geostationary
Satellite as repeater location. As satellite is being used as repeating stations, the data originating
and terminating point can be any where on the earth.VSAT networks are typically used for Video
Surveillance, Video Conferencing, Consumer Internet, Point of Sale, Distance Education,
Industrial ERP, Internet Kiosk etc. Railway is using them to provide data connectivity between
various goods terminals and CRIS as well as for video conferencing applications. It shall also be
used for Accident Site Communication for voice, data and video transmission.
A very small aperture terminal is a two-way satellite ground station or a stabilized maritime
Vsat antenna with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3 meters.The majority of VSAT antennas
range frop 75 cm to 1.2 m. Data rates typically range from 56 kbit/s up to 4 Mbit/s. VSATs
access satellite(s) in geosynchronous orbit to relay data from small remote earth stations
(terminals) to other terminals (in mesh topology) or master earth station "hubs" (in star
topology).
VSATs are most commonly used to transmit narrowband data (point of sale transactions such as
credit card, polling or RFID data; or SCADA), orbroadband data (for the provision of satellite
Internet access to remote locations, VoIP or video). VSATs are also used for transportable, onthe-move (utilising phased array antennas) or mobile maritime communications.

CONFIGURATIONS:-

Most VSAT networks are configured in one of these topologies:

A star topology, using a central uplink site, such as a network operations center (NOC),
to transport data back and forth to each VSAT terminal via satellite,

A mesh topology, where each VSAT terminal relays data via satellite to another terminal
by acting as a hub, minimizing the need for a centralized uplink site,

A combination of both star and mesh topologies. Some VSAT networks are configured by having
several centralized uplink sites (and VSAT terminals stemming from it) connected in a multi-star
topology with each star (and each terminal in each star) connected to each other in a mesh
topology. Others configured in only a single star topology sometimes will have each terminal
connected to each other as well, resulting in each terminal acting as a central hub. These
configurations are utilized to minimize the overall cost of the network, and to alleviate the
amount of data that has to be relayed through a central uplink site (or sites) of a star or multi-star
network.

VSAT NETWORK COMPONENTS

a) The network works in Star as well as Mesh architecture and consists of
i) Hub Earth Station
ii) Remote Earth Station
iii) Satellite Transponder & Space Link

iv) Network Control Centre

v) Interface Equipment

(I) HUB EARTH STATION

This station is Heart of the entire Network. The communication between remotes or remote to
external networks is established through Hub Earth Station only. It is responsible for collecting
the data from enterprise LANs, Address Translation, converting data into IF and RF Signals and
transmitting them to Satellite and further to remote earth stations, maintaining the integrity
checks for all remote earth stations, time synchronization for all remote earth stations, tracking of
Satellite, converting the RF received from Remote to Data Signals in appropriate format to be
delivered at Enterprise level etc.

THE HUB EARTH STATION CONSISTS OF FOLLOWING:-

A)

ANTENNA SUB SYSTEMS:

It consists of 9 meter

(or above) Cassegrain feed, parabolic reflector, Sub Reflector, Low Noise
Amplifiers and its integration modules like Cables, Wave Guides, Connectors,
Dehydrators, Tracking Mechanisms etc. This system should have clear line of
sight availability towards the satellite. The Antenna Control system can
position the Antenna any where in vertical and horizontal plane thus taking
care of Satellite drifts as well as change of Satellite.

B)

RF SUB SYSTEM:

It converts the IF Signals of 70 MHz

typically to RF frequency signals suitable for Satellite transmission. It also

amplifies the Signal for transmission to Satellite.

C)

IF SUB SYSTEM: The Modulated base band signals are first

converted to IF Signals and also amplified here before they are fed to RF Sub
Systems.

D)

BASE BAND EQUIPMENT: This sub system consists

of elements for interacting with interface devices, time synchronization,

modulating the data signals for transmission, demodulating the signals

received, address translation, interacting with Network Monitoring Systems.
All sub systems here work on proprietary software. Few Sub systems work on
proprietary hardware also. Therefore, these equipments are highly Vendor
specific.

E)

NETWORK MONITORING SYSTEMS:

It is a

high end Server. This equipment also works on proprietary software. The
network is managed as well as configured using this system only. All history
and configuration data is kept in Open End RDBMS. In Railway Network, they
are kept in Oracle Enterprise. The system also provides SNMP (Simple
Network Management Protocols) traps for all the devices working on IP. These
traps can be used by Open End Software like HPOV etc which can generate
many configurable reports for management purposes.

F)

SPACE LINK I.E. SATELLITE:-

The VSAT communication depends entirely on Satellite. A satellite is a nothing but a microwave
repeater in Geo synchronous orbit above the earth. All Hub and Remote Earth Equipment
communicates via Satellite.

SATELLITES ARE OF DIFFERENT TYPES NAMELY

i) Communications Satellites (Used for VSAT Network)
ii) Weather Satellites
iii) Remote Sensing Satellites
iv) Science Research Satellites
v) GPS Satellites
Two elements which are common to all the four types of satellites are :-

PAYLOAD - Equipment a satellite needs to do its job.

Include antennas, cameras, radar

and electronics. Payload is different for every satellite. For Example, payload for a weather
satellite includes cameras, while payload for a communication satellite includes antennas.

BUS - Part of the satellite that carries the payload and its equipment into space. It holds all
the satellite parts together and provides electrical power,computers, and propulsion to the
spacecraft.
It also contains equipment that allows the satellite to communicate with earth.
Satellites rotate around earth in orbits. The different types of orbits are Equatorial Orbit, Polar
Orbit, Inclined Orbit and Elliptical Orbit. The time of travel around earth is dependent on the
distance of Satellite from earth. At altitude of 22300 miles, the Satellite takes exactly 24 hours to
circle around earth. All orbits at this altitude are called Geosynchronous Orbits. If the Satellite is
in Equatorial Orbit at the altitude of 22300 miles and is rotating in the same direction as of earth,
it will be stationary with respect to earth. All communication Satellite use geosynchronous
orbits only to avoid the need for realigning the Antenna.
Three geo synchronous satellites can be used for full earth coverage. The transmission of a signal
up to the satellite and back down is called a hop. Transmission delay for one hop is between
240msec. and 270msec.
One geo synchronous satellite can transmit to approximately 42% of the earths surface. North
and South poles cannot receive signals from a geo synchronous satellite. The area covered by a
single satellite antenna is called a footprint. The Satellite position changes due to solar and
lunar gravitational pull. The Satellite owner needs to monitor the position of satellite at all times
and correct for satellite drift. The tracking mechanisms are therefore provided in the Hub
equipment Antenna Sub Systems to take care of this drift.
The Satellite uses different types of beams for communicating with Earth Stations. The beams
used are - GLOBAL BEAM: covering 42% of earth surface. Beam width 18degree, DUAL
SPOT BEAMS,- MULTIPLE SPOT BEAMS,- DUAL POLARIZED SPOT BEAMS.
Polarization of Electro Magnetic waves is used by Satellites to increase the channel capacity as
multiple signals can be transmitted at same frequency. The Polarization used by Satellites is
linear or Circular. Every Earth Station has to be configured to work on the Polarization being
used by Satellites. The Up link and Dn Link Frequencies which are in use in different bands are
as under

UPLINK FREQUENCIES

DOWNLINK

BAND

FREQUENCIES
5.925-6.425 GHz

3.700-4.200 GHz

6.725-7.025 GHz

4.5-4.8 Ghz

Ext. C

14.25-14.50 GHz

11.45-11.7GHz

Ku (IN INSAT-3B)

Railways is using Ku Band for their VSAT Network which will work on INSAT 4C-R
The transponders provide the frequency space on Satellite. Each transponder is of 36 MHz.
Different Satellites carry different number of transponders. A fraction of transponder can be used.
Railway is hiring 9 Mhz frequency space on INSAT 4C-R for their VSAT Network.VSAT
Network operator has to divide the hired transponder space into Transmit and Receive
Segment.As the transmission power of remote earth station is limited, their requirement of
frequency spectrum is limited but higher number of smaller bands are required to cater for large
number of remote stations. While one bigger band is required at transponder for signal
transmitted from Hub as it is high power signal and contains data for all remotes. To adjudge the
availability of Satellite communication, a link budget calculation is done taking the least
available Satellite Power, Antenna Size, transponder sizing for receive and transmit segments
All transponder space is allocated by Department of Space.

REMOTE EARTH STATION :Remote Earth Station consists of

i) A Parabolic Antenna 1.2 or 1.8 Meters of Size for Ku band system and 3.2
to 3.8 meter size for C and XC band system with Feed for transmit Signals.
ii) An outdoor unit called ODU and Low Noise Amplifier for received signal.
iii) Indoor Unit
iv) Power Supply Arrangements
v) Protection and Earthing Arrangements
Indoor Unit interact with the Antenna System as well as external data devices

through Ethernet All remote installations require feeding of latitude and longitude information
which determines its location with respect to Satellite as well as Hub Earth Station. The
supported rates for data transmission in up-to 1 MBPS as per the guidelines of DOT.
The protocol and encryption used for transmission of Data between Hub and Remote station is
usually proprietary items and therefore, the Hub and Remote devices have to be of same Vendor.
As these are proprietary devices, the features supported by them differ from make to make.
features supported by the remote installed on Railway System As these devices use proprietary
protocol as well as encryption, the communication is highly secure.

INTERFACE EQUIPMENT:The VSAT Network is interfaced with the external data devices by using Router or Router
Switch combinations at Hub Earth Stations. At Remote Station, Ethernet LAN output is provided
as standard interface. This can directly be connected to any device having Ethernet interface.
The applications Servers like FOIS Server of Railway, IP Exchange for Voice Networks and
MPEG Server for Video Streaming applications and Web Servers for providing Internet
application have to be interfaced with VSAT network through a router switch combination only.

NETWORK CONTROL CENTER :Network Control Center is responsible for administering and managing the whole of the VSAT
Network as well as each of the application working on the Network. This is carried out through
Network Management System specific to Network as well as using other tools mostly SNMP
based.
This Center also generates various analysis reports not only for Network part but for day to day
operation of each of application running on the Network.
One of the most important parameters is analyzing the traffic flow and taking corrective actions
for optimum working of all applications. This has been described in detail in Bandwidth
Management para.
This Center also tracks the performance of all the remote sites connected and get them attended
in case of any fault.

BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT:-

Management of Bandwidth is a very important parameter on VSAT networks as the cost of of

Bandwidth on Satellite is very high.C and XC Band VSAT Networks worked on principles of
dedicated bandwidth allotment for each application. The utilization of

bandwidth in such

systems was poor as most of the data devices remain dormant for considerable period.
Ku Band VSAT Networks work on Shared bandwidth principles.Here only priorities and
grouping of traffic can be defined. Priorities can be defined for a group consisting of Data
Transmitting device, Data Receiving Device etc. With in the group each member will have an
equal right for the bandwidth. Therefore as more and more member of the group become active,
each one will get lesser bandwidth. As more and more member become dormant, the available
bandwidth for the remaining members will be higher. Priorities can be set for different groups
based on sensitivity of applications. Therefore a high priority group will get precedence for
bandwidth allocation than a lower priority group. This results in a very effective utilization of
Bandwidth. Packet Shaper Software is used for management of bandwidth in transmit
path. While it can be managed using Network Management System tool in receive path.

FUTURE APPLICATIONS:Advances in technology have dramatically improved the price/performance equation of FSS
(Fixed Service Satellite) over the past five years. New VSAT systems are coming online
using Ka bandtechnology that promise higher bandwidth rates for lower costs.
FSS systems currently in orbit have a huge capacity with a relatively low price structure. FSS
systems provide various applications for subscribers, including: telephony, fax, television, high
speed data communication services, Internet access, Satellite News Gathering (SNG), Digital
Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and others. These systems are applicable for providing various high
quality services because they create efficient communication systems, both for residential and
business users