The new automated OMRS system will help avoid in-service failures. Credit: Wabtec Corporation.

Rail technology company Wabtec has secured a ‘significant’ predictive maintenance contract from the Central Organisation For Modernisation Of Workshops (COFMOW), Indian Railways.

This contract is awarded for the Online Monitoring of Rolling Stock (OMRS) project, a new automated OMRS system under Indian Railways’ ‘SMART Yard’ initiative.

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The new automated OMRS system will help increase the availability of the railway’s fleet of coaches, wagons, and locomotives by identifying and solving defects, as well as avoiding in-service failures.

The OMRS is a wayside solution that features a Rail Bearing Acoustic Monitor (RailBAM) and Wheel Condition Monitor (WCM/ WILD) for the detection of defects in the axle–journal bearings and wheels of rolling stock.

Acoustic signatures from bearings will be used by the RailBAM technology to detect bearing faults in advance before being identified through human inspection.

Wabtec digital electronics group president Nalin Jain said: “This order supports their ‘Smart Yard’ initiative, which will showcase the next generation of condition-based predictive maintenance technologies.

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“The OMRS systems will streamline Indian Railways’ operations by automating the inspections of bearings and wheels and pinpointing customised maintenance to maximise the utilisation of its rolling stock.”

Using OMRS systems, operators can better plan for the inspection and elimination of defective bearings and wheels based on the condition rather than fixed time-based inspection schedules.

Wabtec’s teams in Australia and India will design, develop, supply, install and commission 97 OMRS equipment sets in different zonal railway locations across the country.

Via Wabtec Fleet ONE software, the data from all the wayside OMRS systems will be transferred into a modern Central Data Control Centre to be opened in Delhi.

Last month, Wabtec teamed up with BNSF Railway to carry out a biofuel trial to advance sustainability in the railway industry.

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