10-10-2012, 05:43 PM
Evolution of Skybus railway technology
INTRODUCTION
The railway technology, used in metros suffer from a fundamental technology defect: derailment and separation of traveling coach from the railway track, falling down on the ground killing people.
So long as wheels are on rail, the coach runs. But failure of rails/ obstruction or even heavy wind force can create a dangerous situation…..
But when wheels climb the 25 to 30 mm flange, go over the rail, derailment occurs..
Then there is nothing to hold the coach to the track- coach just topples
Such capsizing can kill people inside the coach as well as those on the road below!
Evolution of Skybus technology- improved railway !
Standard Railway coach running on railway track…
The under-frame with standard railway wheel-set running on railway track Skybus-an improved railway!
The under-frame remains same, railway wheels run on the same track, the coach is firmly attached to the under-frame positively
The under-frame with wheels and railway traction motors & railway track enclosed in the concrete box- travel on the railway track , carrying the coach below outside the concrete box- now the coach and the track are positively held together- cannot escape from rails!
Safety Certification Issues:
The same railway elements well proven and used in metro rails are used- at the least it is as safe but, actually safer because of improvements.
World’s leading railway safety experts of TUV, Rheinland, Germany comment on Skybus technology:
The experts will ensure that the commercial Skybus for use of public will satisfy the international safety norms.
A high level Scientists Committee headed by Bharat Ratna Abdul Kalam ( then Principal Scientific Advisor in PMO/ Govt. of India) concluded after examining Mr. B Rajaram’s presentation:
Skybus proposal is technically sound.
On Konkan Railway Skybus test track, Bhaba Atomic Research Centre and RDSO( Ministry of Railways) tested to safety parameters as applicable to metro rail systems, ( prescribed by the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety, Govt. of India) the results are:
The Sky Bus technology Corporation meets the above requirements, and ri Skybus Vs Metro
The city of Mumbai is almost synonymous with its train network, the backbone of its bustling public
life. Mumbai’s suburban trains are said to be the most efficient railway systems in the world. Its
eminence & growing dependency has belittled the high price of human lives, the city is paying. In
2002, the Mumbai suburban railway system claimed 3773 lives, injuring 3,297 from the total 7070
accident cases. This means a death every 2.5 hours due to a railway accident in Mumbai, which is
probably the highest in the world! Mumbai’s bombarding train-passenger traffic of 6 million people is
evidently being reflected in jammed foot-over-bridges on railway platforms and in railway rakes with
people stuffed like cattle (by forced choice), challenging the walled limits. The commuting culture has
deteriorated to such an extent that even a routine inter-city travel can prove to be a near life
threatening, if not, fatalistic experience. It is quite nerve wrecking to dodge way or get stranded in
traffic jams on Mumbai roads, which has the highest density of vehicles per km at 696, while that of
Delhi is 137.
It is high time the city develops alternate modes of transportation to end its frantic dependency on the
suburban railway system and limit any kind of force, whether natural or man-made, to easily victimize
it. Rail and road accidents are only expected to increase unless the passenger & traffic load is
curtailed, diverted or divided on an urgent priority basis. Maharashtra State Government in its recent
pomp inauguration of Mumbai Metro for Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar route, allegedly choose to snub
superior advantages of alternative technology - Skybus, which could have brought a quick breather to
the city. Seven years or even more is a long agonising wait, to get a Metro running in this city.
Sitting in a bogie and whiz passing the city, looking down on mere mortals stuck in traffic jams and
hundreds pouring out of crowded locals as one glides through … is not a scenario or a fantasy of one’s
imagination or an inspiration from a futuristic novel. Skybus is a “first-of its kind in the world” (even
Shanghai doesn’t have it), path-suspended (running below the tracks & 10 meters from ground), airconditioned,
mass & rapid railway transport system. The Skybus presents a perfect solution for
escalating traffic woes in this most populous and space-crunched metropolis of India - Mumbai, where
sq. ft. and headcount are antagonistic elements in its planning. If considered earnestly, indigenous
Skybus can be a reality in the immediate future.
The state government’s much-hyped Metro rail is being glamorised as having the desired & superior
technology, needed to counter Mumbai’s despairing traffic. But not many know, that the Metro, in
technology terms, is same as Mumbai’s very own local train, embellished with A/C coaches, swanky
hi-tech platforms with escalators and modern communication systems, running in a tunnel or over a
bridge – all of which adds to being extremely resource intensive & most of the times, a recurring loss
maker. A news magazine recently reported that out of 135 Metro corporations in the world, only 4 are
making operational profits. These include Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong & Delhi. Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation (DMRC) too, is said to fall in the trap of loss-making corporations with losses amounting
NEW DELHI: An Indian company hopes to flag off within a year the first of its skybus metros, a rail based high-speed mass transit system, a feat that may help bag orders in the Middle East.
"Our target is to have the first skybus metro running by October 15 next year," B. Rajaram, managing director of Konkan Railway Corp. Ltd., told IANS.
This would pave the way for India to undertake several other projects within the country and overseas, including in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Syria.
"Over the last two to three years we have received several expressions of interest from various state governments and countries, in particular the Middle East, to have the skybus metro system in areas with heavy traffic.
"We have already done the survey of a 14 km stretch in Madinah, covering all the important places in the holy city.
"Saudi Arabia has expressed an interest in having a similar mass rapid system in the holy city of Makkah," said Rajaram.
With Konkan Railway having demonstrated its capacity to produce a world-class skybus prototype, it is just a matter of time before funds and clearances come through for the first skybus system to get operational in India, says Rajaram.
Marking the foundation day of Konkan Railway on October 15, the state-owned railway demonstrated in Goa the first indigenously developed commercial prototype sky coach, sky guides and sky station "all designed and manufactured within 90 days with the help of 34 companies at a cost of 70 million".
Companies like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Larsen and Toubro, Tata Projects, Zygox and Kineco put in expertise and funds to help realise the demonstration project.
Rajaram, who has been working on the design of skybus for over a decade, is now in the process of getting it patented in the name of Konkan Railway and India in 128 countries.
Unlike the high-speed mono railway operated in Japan and several countries, skybus will have twin rails eight kilometres above the ground.
Again unlike a normal train, the skybus will have only two coaches of 3.5 tonnes each operating at 100 km per hour to ensure service every minute over short distances.
"We don't need any extra land space for setting up the skybus, which can be set up over road dividers on concrete structures eight metres above ground. As compared to the regular railway or underground metros that cost around 3 billion per km, skybus infrastructure can be set up at 500 million per km," said Rajaram.
Now only a one-kilometre demonstration project has to be realised to get many other projects rolling.
So far Konkan Railway has received 15 proposals totalling 966 km from within India, from cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Lucknow and Kochi. The total cost of these projects will work out to be around 444.35 billion.
Including the overseas proposals from the Dubai, Sharjah and Damascus where plans have been submitted, the projects in the pipeline are worth around 700 billion.
With PUV, the internationally reputed Germany-based firm, coming forward to give global security certification for the project, the only thing remaining is to get the first project off the ground.
"Once the demonstration project gets going, we could get started," said Rajaram.
While the prime minister has given his go-ahead to Konkan Railway to get started with a project in Goa, planners are still to decide how to go about the funding process.
The alternatives being mulled are setting up a three-kilometre double track sky metro lab or a demonstration project in Goa with four skybus coaches or starting off with a two-kilometre stretch in Kochi.
SKY BUS TEST IN GOA
MADGAON: 'Is it a bird ... is it a plane?' - This famous line from Hollywood blockbusterSuperman just about sums up the Indian Railways' dilemma about the Skybus.
The Ministry is yet to decide on whether the revolutionary mass-transit system should be introduced in India under the Railway Act or the Trams Act and the resulting delay is giving Konkan Railway officials sleepless nights.
"My biggest problem is that the Railway Ministry has not been able to decide whether the Skybus is a train or a bus. In fact, the Skybus is ready for commercial use but for policy constraints," B Rajaram, Managing Director of Konkan Railways told reporters here at a media preview of the Skybus.
The concept of an electric Skybus, in which the coaches are suspended from bogies travelling on elevated rail guides, is Rajaram's dream project and he even holds a patent for it in the US. He had first presented a paper on the project at the World Congress for Railway Research in 1989. But time is not on his side. Rajaram's immediate aim is to secure a safety certification for the Skybus before January 31, his last day of work before he officially retires.
Safety concerns had already delayed the project by many months. During trial runs in September last year, an engineer riding the Skybus was killed and three others injured in a freak accident which was attributed to technical failure.
The incident immediately raised apprehensions about passenger safety. "It was an unfortunate accident, but then, human beings learn from their mistakes. The way we have modified the Skybus, the original design factors are still satisfied and more safety features have been included. It's now 99 per cent complete and its safety has been proven," Rajaram said.
"The Commissioner for Railway Safety has inspected the Skybus and we are awaiting his report," he added.
The two-coach Skybus is expected to pack in upto 300 passengers on a single trip, which during trials here, traversed a distance of 1.6 km. Depending on the number of coaches, the Skybus has been designed to handle 18,000 to one lakh persons per hour.