INTERNSHIP TRAINING REPORT

ON
East Central Railway Hajipur
A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Internship for

Bachelor of Technology
in
Electronics and Communication Engineering
by
Md.Aftab Alam
Reg. No.:-19104132009
(Training Duration : 15-June- 2022 to 15-July-2022)

Submitted To: - Submitted by: -

PROF. MD TABISH RAZA Md.Aftab Alam
(Head of Department) Reg no:-19104132009
Roll no: -2019-ECE-16
Electronics and Communication Engineering SCE Saharsa

DEPARTMENT OF
Electronics and Communication ENGINEERING
SAHARSA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
SAHARSA, BIHAR
INTERNSHIP CERTIFICATE
 DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the Internship work entitled “Core activities of Railway”
submitted to the SAHARSA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERRING, SAHARSA is
a record of an original work done by me. This work is submitted in the partial
fulfilment of the requirements of internship work for the degree of Bachelor of
Technology in Electronics and communication Engineering. The results
embodied in this work have not been submitted to any other University or
Institute for the award of any degree or diploma.

Md. Aftab Alam

Reg.no.:19104132009
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all those who provided me the possibility to
complete this report and I would like to thank Sir Md. TABISH RAZA.
The help rendered by ECR Hajipur Team training and placement head is greatly acknowledged.

I would like to express gratitude to other faculty member of ECR Hajipur Team for intellectual support
throughout the course of this work.

Finally, I am indebted to all whose ever have contributed in the report work.
 Table of Contents
Sr. no Content Page No.
1. Introduction 5
2. Telecommunications 6
3. Optical Fiber Communications 7-8
4. Quad Cable 9
5. PA Systems 10
6. Telephone Exchange 10
7. Mobile Communications 11-12
8. FOIS 13
9. COIS 14
10. Internet 15
11. PRS 15
12. Control System 16
13. Signaling 17-18
14. Interlocking 19-21
15. Summary 22
16. References 23
 Introduction
Indian Railways is one of the largest Railways in the world. Introduced in 1853 the Railway
network in India spread and expanded rapidly and has become the principal mode of
transport in the country. It has also absorbed advances in railway technology in tune with
the requirement of moving large volumes of passenger and the freight traffic. Railways
were first introduced to India in 1853 from Bombay to Thane. In 1951 the systems were
nationalized as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the
world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge
network of broad, meter and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive
and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying
their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty four states
and three union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal,
Bangladesh and Pakistan.
 Telecommunications
Telecommunication in the modern era is the science and practice of transmitting information by
electromagnetic means.

In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke
signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages such as
coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, and loud whistles. In modern times, telecommunications
involves the use of electrical devices such as the telegraph, telephone, and teleprinter , as well as
the use of radio, microwave transmission towers, fiber optics, orbiting satellites and the Internet,
which is a vast world-wide computer network.

A revolution in wireless telecommunications began in the first decade of the 1900s with
pioneering developments in radio communications by Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo
Marconi.

1.1 Optical Fiber Communications

Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another
by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber. The optical fiber acts as a low loss, wide
bandwidth transmission channel. A light source is required to emit light signals, which are
modulated by the signal data. To enhance the performance of the
system, a spectrally pure light source is required

A thin glass strand designed for light transmission. A single hair-thin fiber is capable of
transmitting trillions of bits per second. In addition to their huge transmission capacity, optical
fibers offer many advantages over electricity and copper wire. Light pulses are not affected by
random radiation in the environment, and their error rate is significantly lower. Fibers
allow longer distances to be spanned before the signal has to be regenerated by expensive
"repeaters." Fibers are more secure, because taps in the line can be detected, and lastly, fiber
installation is streamlined due to their dramatically lower weight and smaller size
compared to copper cab

Fig1: OFC cables

CONSTRUCTION OF OPTICAL FIBER
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, telephone companies began to use fibers extensively tore
build their communications infrastructure. According to KMI Corporation, specialists in
fiber optic market research, by the end of 1990 there were approximately eight million miles
of fiber laid in the U.S. (this is miles of fiber, not miles of cable which can contain many
fibers). By the end of 2000, there were 80 million miles in the U.S. and 225 million
worldwide. Copper cable is increasingly being replaced with fibers for
LAN backbones as well, and this usage is expected to increase substantially.

Pure Glass
An optical fiber is constructed of a transparent core made of nearly pure silicon dioxide(SiO2),
through which the light travels. The core is surrounded by a cladding layer that reflects light,
guiding the light along the core. A plastic coating covers the cladding
to protect the glass surface. Cables also include fibers of Kevlar and/or steel wires
for strength and an outer sheath of plastic or Teflon for protection.

Fig 2: Inner Sections of OFC cable

Enormous Bandwidth
For glass fibers, there are two "optical windows" where the fiber is most transparent and
efficient. The centers of these windows are 1300 nm and 1550 nm, providing approximately
18,000GHz and 12,000GHz respectively, for a total of 30,000GHz. This enormous
bandwidth is potentially usable in one fiber. Plastic is also used for short- distance fiber
runs, and their transparent windows are typically 650 nm and in the 750-900 nm range.

Single mode and Multimode

There are two primary types of fiber. For intercity cabling and highest speed, single mode
fiber with a core diameter of less than 10 microns is used. Multimode fiber is very common
for short distances and has a core diameter from 50 to 100 microns. See laser, WDM, fiber
optics glossary and cable categories.
 Fig 3: Diagram of total internal reflection in an optical fiber

The light in a fiber-optic cable travels through the core (hallway) by constantly bouncing
from the cladding (mirror-lined walls), a principle called total internal reflection. Because
the cladding does not absorb any light from the core, the light wave can travel great
distances. However, some of the light signal degrades within the fiber, mostly due to
impurities in the glass. The extent that the signal degrades depends on the purity of the
glass and the wavelength of the transmitted light.

Applications
Optical fiber is used by many telecommunications companies to transmit telephone
signals, Internet communication, and cable television signals. Due to much lower
attenuation and interference, optical fiber has large advantages over existing copper
wire in long-distance and high-demand applications. However, infrastructure
development within cities was relatively difficult and time-consuming, and fiber-
optic systems were complex and expensive to install and operate. Due to these
difficulties, fiber-optic communication systems have primarily been installed in
long-distance applications, where they can be used to their full transmission
capacity, offsetting the increased cost.
 2.2 Quad Cable

Fig 4: Inner sections of a quad cable

• Conductor: Each conductor consists of round wire of annealed highconductivity copper.

• Insulation: Each conductor is insulated with solid medium/ high density polyethylene
insulation.

• Quadding: Four insulated conductors stranded to form a star quad, two conductors
diagonally opposite forming one pair and the remaining two diagonally opposite
conductors forming the second pairs of the quad.

Laying Up: The quads are assembled to form a symmetrical core with a right hand lay.
Polyethylene strungs of required diameter may be used as fillers, if necessary, for proper
circular core formation.
• Filling and core wrapping: The cable core is fully filled with water resistant comound
which is compatible with the polythene insulation of the conductors. The filled cable
core is wrapped with at least one helical or longitudinally polythene tape.
• Poly-Al Laminate Moisture Barrier : Aluminium tape, coated with polythene on
both sides is applied longitudinally over the cable core with a specified overlap. The
taoe is seased and bonded to the inner surface of the polythene sheath.
• Sheathing: The screened cable core is sheathed with black polythene compound.
• Screening and protection: The cable core with inners sheath is surrounded by a
reasonably close fitted screen of Aluminium in the form of wires/strips/welded
aluminium tubing. The aluminium screen is wrapped with a single layer of woven
tape inpregnated with Barium chromate with a specified overlap.
PA Systems
A public address system (PA system) is an electronic sound amplification and distribution
system with a microphone, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to allow a person to address a large public,
for example for announcements of movements at large and noisy air and rail terminals.
The term is also used for systems which may additionally have a mixing console, and
amplifiers and loudspeakers suitable for music as well as speech, used to reinforce a sound
source, such as recorded music or a person giving a speech or distributing the sound
throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in small venues such as
school auditoriums, churches, and small bars. PA systems with many speakers are widely
used to make announcements in public, institutional and commercial buildings and locations.
Intercom systems, installed in many buildings, have microphones in many rooms allowing
the occupants to respond to announcements.

Role of PA System in Human life safety

The PA system is capable of automatically managing an evacuation procedure by providing
instructions to occupants on what to do and where to go depending on their location. By doing
so, it will ensure the optimization of all fire escapes' capacity and avoid congestion or crowding
of fire escapes. In order to provide these, the fire alarm panel is integrated to the system. This
integration enables the system to determine which floors or area is having an emergency and
automatically conducts the evacuation process

Telephone Exchange
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 centers
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 exchanges shall be interconnected using manual trunks through Trunk Operators
or through Subscriber Trunk Dialing (STD) channels.
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.
Various components of the exchange system

a) Exchange hardware
b) Exchange software
c) Man Machine Interaction Terminal PC with Printer
d) Test and measuring instruments
e) Power supply Arrangement consisting of Batteries, Charger, Changeover panel and
stand-by system .
f) Intermediate Distribution Frame
g) Main Distribution Frame
h) Protection arrangement
i) Attendant consoles
j) Cable (underground and switch board)
k) Subscriber telephone set
l) Maintenance tools
m) Documentation
n) Lightning protection and Earthing arrangement
The man machine language must be in English and user friendly. A VDU, keyboard
and a printer alongwith a PC must be available for interaction with the Exchange.
The exchange shall be worked with batteries on float. The capacity of the batteries
shall be to provide minimum 8 hours back up. One set of battery, two chargers and a
change over panel are to be provided for supplying power supply to exchange. The
capacity of power supply arrangement shall be 30% higher than the exchange load.
The charger shall be preferably SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supply) type.

Intermediate Distribution Frame:

The IDF (Intermediate Distribution Frame) shall have disconnecting type connectors
with facility for isolating exchange indoor and outdoor side. The cable terminals shall
be installed on a rack. Protection arrangement shall be available on IDF. All testing for
line side shall be done from IDF. The IDF may be accommodated in exchange
equipment room.

Main Distribution Frame:

All outdoor cable shall be terminated on a rack forming the Main Distribution Frame
(MDF). This shall provide connectivity between outdoor cable and indoor switch board
cable. The Main Distribution Frame shall be installed in a separate room but not in the
exchange room. An earth is connected across the frame for its entire length and
preferably this shall be a copper strip clamped to the frame..
The outdoor cables shall be jelly filled underground type. The indoor cables shall be switch
board cables. The outdoor cables shall be 20 pair, 50 pair and 100 pair
capacity. The indoor cable shall be 5 pair, 10 pair, 20 pair and 50 pair. The outdoor cable
shall have outdoor Termination Box/Location Box with terminals
for proper termination of the cable. The indoor cable shall be terminated on CT boxes
of appropriate size. The cables, cable Terminals in CT Boxes shall be planned with 30%
spare capacity. All outdoor cable sheath shall be earthed while entering the exchange at
MDF.
Lightning protection and Earthing arrangement:

The earthing arrangement shall be consisting of

- Earth pits minimum four with Earth electrodes connected in a ring
- Two earth wires connecting Earth Electrodes to Earth Distribution Frame
- Earth wires from each equipment to Earth Distribution Frame
(Exchange rack, IDF, MDF, Charger, Battery, Gen set, Power panel, Cables)
Electrical Supply :
230 V AC single phase shall be available. With power lines suitable for taking the load,
Alternate supply shall be provided either traction supply or DG set. The power supply shall
enter the room through MCB and changeover switch with proper earthing arrangement.

Mobile Communication
Mobile Train Radio communication is a digital wireless network based on GSM-R (Global
System for Mobile Communication-Railway) designed on EIRENE (European Integrated
Railway Radio Enhanced Network) Functional requirement specification (FRS) and System
Requirement specification ( SRS).
Basic features of GSM-R are

Point to Point call Allows user to make a distinct call.

Voice Broad cast call
Voice Group call
Emergency call
Functional addressing
Allows groups of user to receive common
Allows groups of user to make calls within
Allows user to call controller by short code or
Allows a user or an application to be reached by
means of a number, which identifies the relevant
function and not the physical terminal.

Location dependent addressing Provides the routing of mobile originated calls to

the correct controller.

The system consists of following sub systems :

1. Mobile Station (MS)
2. Base Station Sub system (BSS)
3. Network and switching sub system (NSS) Operating sub system
4. Dispatcher
5. Cab Radio
6. Power Supply Arrangement
The Radio link uses both FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access) and TDMA
(Time Division multiple Access) . The 900 MHz frequency bands for down link and up
link signal are 935-960 MHz and 890-9 15 MHz respective.
Mobile Sub system (MS) :

The MS consists of two parts

• Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)
• Mobile Equipment (ME)
The SIM is removable and can be moved from one terminal to another. It is authenticated
via a personal Identity Number (PIN) between four to eight digit. This PIN
can be deactivated or changed by the user. If PIN is entered incorrectly in three consecutive
attempts, the phone is locked for all but emergency calls, until a PIN unblocking key (PUK)
is entered.
The SIM contains subscriber information and International Mobile Subscriber Identity
(IMSI).

Power Supply :
The Mobile handset is equipped with power supply arrangement (Li-ion battery). It is a
maintenance free battery having detachable independent charger to recharge the battery
after discharge. Charging indication on ME screen shows the status of charging.
The Mobile handset can be dynamically registered and deregistered in the network for
different functional numbers as per requirement of the subscriber (ME) by keying from the
key pad in a programmed manner and monitoring the action in the display unit of ME.

Base Station Sub system (BSS) :

The BSS connects the MS and the NSS. The BSS contains of three parts.
Base transceiver Station (BTS).
Base Station Controller
Trans Coder Unit.

Base Transreceiver Station (BTS) :

The BTS performs channel coding/decryption. It contains transmitter and receivers,
antennas, the interface to the PCM facility and signaling equipment specific to the radio
interface in order to contact the MEs. It processes the signaling and speech required for Mes
in air interface at one side (via antenna) and with BSC in Abis interface (through PCM
2Mb/s in OFC network) at the other side.The general architecture of the Base station is
based on the following modules:
• The Compact Base Common Function (CBCF) performs all common functions shas
concentration, transmission, supervision and synchronization. A CBCF can be
dimensioned according to traffic.
• The Power Amplifiers (PA) amplify the RF signal delivered to antenna through the T X
combiner. Each PA is physically independent unit, characterized by its frequency band,
output power can be controlled independently.
• The Driver receiver units (DRX) amplify the RF signals (two, for diversity), the TDMA
frames and drive the power amplifier. Each DRX is associated with one RF channel,
connected to the Frequency Hopping bus (FH bus) in order to allow base band hopping
and packed as a physically independent unit. One TRX is then made up of one PA and
one DRX. Depending on frequency band , a specific DRX is available to support EDGE
(e-DRX).
 The Transmission Combiners (TX combiners) combine the RF signals delivered byseveral power
Amplifiers and duplex them with the received signals. A variety of coupling modules can be
selected, depending on the type of combining (duplexer, hybrid)
.
System Specification :
Power Supply = - 48 V
PA Tx – Power = 30 W.
Rx Sensitivity = -110

Power Supply:48V/16 Amp. DC supply i48 V/16 As provided for the BTS cabinet.
Low Maintenance lead-acid battery with capacity 300AH with a Battery Charger
(230V AC/48V – 50 Amp. DC) shall be kept in float condition with load for this
purpose.
Base Station Controller (BSC) :
In the BSS network, the BSC performs the tasks related to the BSS equipment management
& supervision and to the GSM call processing, mainly:
• BTS supervision
• Radio channel allocation
• Radio channel Monitoring
• Traffic management
• TCU management
• OMC-R link management
• Handover procedures
• Operation and maintenance request from the OMC-R processing
• BSS configuration data and software storage
• BSS performance counters management
• Failure detection and processing
Trans coder unit (TCU):
The TCU carries out speech encoding/ decoding and rate adoption in data transmission.
It is designed to reduce the number of PCM links needed to convey radio speech & Data
channels between BTS,BSC & MSC. It enables code conversion of 16 Kbps channel from
the BSC into 64 Kbps channels for MSC in both directions.
Functional Overview :
It performs the following main tasks related to communication switching and transcoding:

• Switching: the TCU manages a time –division multiplexer connecting the BSC and MSC.
• PCM link management: Using the configuration data provided by the BSC, the TCU
configures and monitors the PCM links on the A and Ater interfaces.
• Transcoding and rate adaptation: Coding/decoding of the speech frames
and rate adaptation of data frames.
• TCU equipment management: OA&M functions: initialization , startup, clock
synchronization from A-interface links, supervision , fault management, software and
configuration management.

Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS):

The NSS supports the switching functions, subscriber profiles and mobility management. The
basis switching function in the NSS is performed by the MSC. This interface follows a signaling
protocol used in the telephone network. The MSC also communicates with other network elements
external to GSM utilizing the same signaling protocol. The current location of an MS is usually
maintained by the HLR ( Home Location Register) and VLR (Visitor Location Register). When
an MS moves to the Home System to Visited system, its location is registered at the VLR of the
visited system. The VLR then informs the MS’s HLR of its current location. The authentication
center (AuC) is used in the Security data management for the authentication of subscribers.
NSS &BSS installed in some sections of Indian Railways are of M/s Nortel or M/s Siemens make.
Data Bases

Home Location Register

Data base for management of mobile
(HLR)
subscribers, stores the IMSI, Mobile station
ISDN number (MSISDN) and current visitor
location register (VLR) address.
Keep track of the services associated with each
MS and HLR may be used by Multiple MSC’s.
Visitor location Register Catches some information from the HLR as necessary for
(VLR) call control and service providing for each mobile currently
located in the geographical area controlled by VLR
connected to one MSC and is often integrated into the MSC.

Authentication center (AuC)
A protected data base which has a copy of the
secret key stored in each subscriber’s SIM card.
This Secret is used for authentication and
encryption over the radio channel. Normally it is
locate close to HLR.
 Equipment Identity ( EIR) Contains a list of all valid mobile station
Register equipment within the network, where each
mobile station is identified by its
International Mobile Equipment Identity
(IMEI)

2.6 FOIS

Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) was implemented in Indian Railways as an initiative to leverage the use of
Information Technology in the freight segment as an aid to decision making and to ultimately improve the freight services.
After successful completion of trials and its implementation in Northern Railway, the system comprising two modules-
Rake Management System and Terminal Management System- was rolled out to all the zones over Indian Railways. This
was introduced, inter alia, to enhance the accuracy and reliability of operating data to provide a real time view of
transactions and to serve as a decision making tool in allotment of rakes to customers and improved asset turnaround.

Fig 5: System Architecture of FOIS

The design conforms to the state of the art client server technology using
middleware and a Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS).
Application servers at the CRIS are networked and linked to a central database for
global level transactions. The central database acts as the repository of all current
and historical data. The application is interface-ready for web-based services like
connectivity to customers and e-payment gateway interface.
 Objectives of computerisation
o The objectives of computerisation of freight operations included:
1. enhancing the accuracy, reliability and timely
availability of basic operating data pertaining to events
in the field locations;
2. providing a wide range of information updated in ‘real
time’ facilitating operating management for better
planning, direction and control of freight operations and
revenue accounting;
3. efficient scheduling and quick turnaround of rakes to enable
effective and optimum utilization of the assets and
resources;
4. facilitating acceptance of customers’ orders, billing and
cash accounting of freight traffic from identified nodal
customer centers, which might not be the handling
terminals; and
5. global tracking of consignments in real time and seamless
availability of pipeline of consignments for timely planning
and just in time inventory management.

2.7 COIS
Indian Railways have taken up implementation of Coaching Operations Information
System (COIS) for a better management of punctuality, coaching stock management
and planning tools relating to time tabling and rake link optimization and to improve
overall efficiency of train services.
Being developed by Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS), the
Punctuality Module seeks to provide terminals for installing in all control
offices at the Divisions and the Zonal Railway headquarters emergency control.
The Zonal Railways have started the daily train running data entry for testing
and removing the software bugs.
Coaching Operations Information System (COIS): Captures events on
Coaches/Rakes, Generates Reports for Management of Coaching Stock. Data
input predominantly at Station/Coaching Yard
level. Working on the system at station/yard level leads to generation of required
data (and memos for the operator).This works as input for MIS. All station/yard
activities from arrival to departure of rake are captured:

• Yard stock entry

• Dispute Resolve
• Yard Position
• Rake formation
• Modify consist
• Movement (Yard to yard)
• Remove fit available coaches
 • Rake Examination
• Search Feedbacks
• Departure Reporting
• Send Feedbacks
• Generate memo
• Arrival Reporting

2.8 Internet

Fig 6: OSI reference model

The Internet is a worldwide network of computers and computer networks that

can communicate with each other using the Internet Protocol. Any computer on
the Internet has a unique IP address that can be used by other computers to route
information to it. Hence, any computer on the Internet can send a message to any
other computer using its IP address. These messages carry with them the
originating computer's IP address allowing for two-way communication. The
Internet is thus an exchange of messages between computers.
The Internet works in part because of protocols that govern how the computers
and routers communicate with each other. The nature of computer network
communication lends itself to a layered approach where individual protocols in
the protocol stack run more-or-less independently of other protocols. This allows
lower-level protocols to be customized for the network situation while not
changing the way higher-level protocols operate. Protocols are often talked about
in terms of their place in the OSI reference model (pictured on the right), which
emerged in 1983 as the first step in an unsuccessful attempt to build a universally
adopted networking protocol suite.
For the Internet, the physical medium and data link protocol can vary several
times as packets traverse the globe. This is because the Internet
places no constraints on what physical medium or data link protocol is used. This
leads to the adoption of media and protocols that best suit the local.
LAN:
Despite the growth of the Internet, the characteristics of local area networks
("LANs" – computer networks that do not extend beyond a few kilometers
in size) remain distinct. This is because networks on this scale do not
require all the features associated with larger networks and are often more
cost-effective and efficient without them. When they are not connected
with the Internet, they also have the advantages of privacy and security.
However, purposefully lacking a direct connection to the Internet will not
provide 100% protection of the LAN from hackers, military forces, or
economic powers. These threats exist if there are any methods for
connecting remotely to the LAN.

WAN:
There are also independent wide area networks ("WANs" – private
computer networks that can and do extend for thousands of kilometers.)
Once again, some of their advantages include their privacy, security, and
complete ignoring of any potential hackers – who cannot "touch" them.
Of course, prime users of private LANs and WANs include armed forces
and intelligence agencies that must keep their information completely
secure and secret.

PRS
Reserved travel by Indian Railways is facilitated by the Passenger Reservation System (PRS).
PRS provides reservation services to nearly 1.5 to 2.2 million passengers a day on over 2500
trains running throughout the country. The Indian Railways (IR) carries about 5.5 lakh
passengers in reserved accommodation every day. The computerised Passenger Reservation
System (PRS) facilitates booking and cancelling of tickets from any of the 4000 terminals (i.e
PRS booking windows) all over the country. These tickets can be booked or cancelled for
journeys commencing in any part of India and ending in any other part, with travel times as long
as 72 hours and distances up to several thousand kilometers. The PRS Application CONCERT
(Country-wide Network of Computerized Enhanced Reservation and Ticketing) is the world’s
largest online reservation application, developed and maintained by CRIS. The system currently
operates from 5 Data centers. The server clusters are connected together by a core network that
enables universal terminals across country, through which the travelling public can reserve a
berth on any train, between any pair of station for any date and class.
 Fig 7: CONCERT Network Topology

The main modules of the PRS are the Reservation module, the Cancellation and Modification
Module, the Charting Module, the Accounting Module, and the Database Module. The
passengers’ request for reservation, cancellation and modification of journey are handled by
the system through requisition slips. Major outputs generated by the system
are Reservationcum-journey tickets, Cancellation/Modification tickets, Reservation Charts
and Daily Terminal Cash Summary. The system is also capable of generating different types
of Management Information System Reports. The system was audited at ten zonal railways
namely Eastern Railway, Northern Railway, Southern Railway, Central Railway
(CR), Western Railway , South Central Railway, North Eastern Railway, South Eastern
Railway (SER), North East Frontier Railway (NFR) and East Central Railway (ECR).

Control system
The Control Organization of IR has primary responsibility for scheduling and running all trains, and
maintaining information on the positions and movements of all rolling stock. (These functions are
collectively known as control - an area of the railway network is said to be 'controlled' when a control
office is in charge of it).A control chart is drawn up by the section controller or his staff for each day.
The chart plots distance along one axis (subdivided by block sections, and showing stations, level
crossings, etc, and time along the other.)The train’s path are plotted on the chart to show the progress
they are making; the slopes of the paths indicate the speeds. Colours are used to mark out different
categories of trains; eg: red for mail and express trains, blue for ordinary passenger trains, and black
for good trains. Crack or link goods trains are indicated by special colours. If a train is stabled at a
station, a horizontal red line is used to denote that. Normally, at the end of a run on a section, the
guard for a passenger train hands in his report of timings and reasons for detentions along the way,
so that they can be reconciled with the control chart. Each division or district has a control office. In
some divisions, this control office is in charge of all trains in the division or district. In other cases,
in addition to the headquarters control office there may be one or more outstation control offices
which control specific areas within the division. Each line is divided into a number of control sections
for convenience. Sometimes a line may be divided into more than one control section between yards
to account for very dense traffic, and lines with very light traffic may be combined together into one
control section. Each control section has a 'control board' which includes the telephony equipment
for the control staff to talk to any of the stations, block cabins, yards, loco sheds, in the control
section. A control section normally covers about 150-200km of a railway line.

Fig 8: Control Panel Room

Signaling
Signaling is one of the most important aspects of Railway communication. In the very early days of
the railways there was no fixed signaling to inform the driver of the situation of the line ahead. Trains
were driven “on sight”. But several unpleasant incidents accentuated the need for an efficient
signaling system. Earliest system involved the Time Interval technique. Here time intervals were
imposed between trains mostly around 10mins. But due to the frequent breakdown of trains in those
days this technique resulted in rear-end collisions. This gave rise to the fixed signaling system
wherein the track was divided into fixed sections and each section was protected by a fixed signaling.
This system is still being continued although changes have been brought about in the basic signaling
methods. Earlier mechanical signals were used but today block signaling is through electric
instruments. In the mid 19th century mechanical interlocking was used. The purpose was to prevent
the route for a train from being set up and its protecting signal cleared if there was already another
conflicting route setup. The most modern development in signal interlocking is SSI- a means of
controlling the safety requirements at junctions using electronic circuits which replaced the relay
systems supplied up to that time. In Indian Railways, first trial installation of SSI was provided at
Srirangam Station in 1987. Nowadays Track Circuits are used wherein the current flow in the track
circuit will be interrupted by the presence of wheels and a “stop” signal will be shown. A “proceed”
signal will be displayed if the current flows

1.2 Basic Signaling

The absolute block system is the most widespread method of train working on IR. The block sections
may be handled manually or automatically, or by some combination of those. Some sections still use
different forms of physical token systems such as the Neale's Ball Token instruments.
Other than the block system some other special-purpose methods of train working are used in
some circumstances. There are many old and new kinds of signaling systems used by IR. Many
regions use lower-quadrant or upper-quadrant semaphore signaling (now with electric lamps for
night operation, but formerly using oil lamps). Many routes have been fitted with (automatic or
manual, 2-, 3- or 4-aspect) color-light signal systems that are electrically operated.
A few areas have seen the introduction of forms of centralized traffic control (CTC) in conjunction
with automatic colour-light signalling. (CTC was first introduced on the NER's busy MG section
between Gorakhpur and Chapra, and later on the Bongaigaon-Changsari section of NFR.) The
suburban section of Madras Egmore - Tambaram also has CTC.
Busy urban areas have electronic electronic interconnections among the signal systems of the
 stations within the areas. Suburban systems generally have colour-light signalling and automatic
block systems, sometimes with AWS or some form of automatic train stop systems (ATP,
automatic train protection) as well. Automatic train stop systems were tried on some main lines in
the 1960's but were given up following excessive vandalism and pilferage of equipment and
maintenance problems.Points and interlockings may be worked mechanically (rod or pipe linkages
are common, but earlier, double-wire systems were also used) or electrically (motor driven). Many
points exist which have to be manually operated at the location of the points after using a key to
unlock the points.

Fig 9: Point Machines

Following British practice, IR's signalling is essentially route signalling where the signals generally indicate
which route has been set for a train, letting the driver choose the speed as appropriate for the divergences,
curves, etc. Of course no modern system of signalling is purely route-based or speed-based, and there are
elements of speed signalling in some of IR's signalling as well.

1.3 Interlocking
In railway signalling, an interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents
conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks such as junctions or crossings. The
signalling appliances and tracks are sometimes collectively referred to as an interlocking
plant. An interlocking is designed so that it is impossible to give clear signals to trains unless
the route to be used is proved to be safe.

Mechanical Interlocking
Detector
A Detector is a very basic mechanical interlocking device that ensures that a signal can be pulled
off for a route only after the points have been set correctly for it. It also ensures that the tongue
rails for the points are positioned correctly (i.e., not warped to one side or another, for instance
because of being damaged in trail-throughs). The detector consists of a a set of signal slides that
operate perpendicular to the a blade connected to the points which determine the route. The blade
connected to the points has a number of notches, matching the number of signals. Each signal slide
has just one notch. The notch on the signal slide fits into the notch of the point blade only when
 the points are correctly set for the route of the corresponding signal. When the signal slide is
positioned in this way, it frees the signal to be pulled off. Then when the signal is pulled off, it
moves the signal slide such that the points cannot be changed because the notch of the point blade
fouls the signal slide.

Manually operated interlocking

This is a form of mechanical interlocking as well, but relies on the signalman to move about from
one set of points and signals to another carrying with him the keys used to operate them. At small
stations and on less busy branch lines various forms of manually operated mechanical interlocking
are still widespread.

Fig 10: Manually Operated Interlocking System

At points controlling catch sidings in hilly areas, often the interlocking is manual where the driver
has to use a key provided by the stationmaster or signalman of the last station before the siding --
the key is inserted into the interlock box which notifies the signal cabin and the points are then set
EI
In the more advanced electrical or electronic interlocking schemes, the points and signals are
worked from one integrated mechanism in a signal cabin which features a display of the entire
track layout with indications of sections that are occupied, free, set for reception or dispatch, etc.
The interlocking is accomplished not by mechanical devices but by electrical circuitry -- relays
and switches in older electrical or electropneumatic systems, and computerized circuits in the
newer electronic systems.

Electrical Interlocking
Electrical equipment of some kinds may be used even in the mechanical interlocking systems
described above (e.g., electrical relays that operate slotting). However, the basic operation there
remains mechanical in nature. In electrical interlocking, the fundamental mechanisms use electric
control extensively. Electrical interlocking often goes hand in hand with power signaling, although
there are or were installations with electrical interlocking provided for semaphore signals.

Relays
Relays of various sorts are used to turn, points, slots, level crossing gates, etc. Track relays are
used for track circuits. Signal relays control signals on or turn off circuits that control signals.

Fig 11 : Indoor Relay Room

Summary
Railways transport is an important and inexpensive mode for travel in India.
In order to meet Indian Railway’s demands for extreme reliability, many developments in the
area of signal and telecommunication has been done in order to provide the most technically-
effective solution.
Modern signalling systems using solid state interlocking auxiliary warning systems for
enhancing and ensuring safety, heavier rails, concrete sleepers, elastic fastenings, long span
bridges in pre-stressed concrete, improvements in overhead electric traction, use of information
technology in all area of railway working etc. are the other areas where Indian railways are
utilising modern technology to meet the combined needs of traffic and safety. Still, there is a
great scope ahead for further improvements in the arena for efficient communications in the
railways on which engineers are pondering over for a better future in the Indian Railways.
References
The following references have been helpful for preparation of this technical report along with the
guidance of our mentors and guides.
• www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/.../telecom-man-idx.htm
• Indian Railways-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• East Cental Railway,hajipur
• Patna railway station & Hajipur railway sta