Abstract:
Traditional methods continue to be used in the matters pertaining to railway time table scheduling, rail traffic management, rail operation and asset management. With the passage of time railways has become a significant source of transportation both in developed and developing countries. Transportation infrastructure is vital for economic and social development of any country. This thesis elaborates clearly how the existing coordination between the trains and regional rail traffic control units can be improved. The existing coordination between a rail locomotive and the regional Traffic Control Unit (TCU) is through cellular phones only. This makes current system prone to large probability for the errors and uncertainty in train location tracking. The rail position data obtained from GPS module and android applications has been used and tested for schedule optimization. Another major goal of this study is to use the GIS digitized map for rail infrastructure and asset management. The objective of the conducted study was to digitize the railway track between Rawalpindi and Lalamusa using GIS digitization tools thus managing railway asset data. This system is based on the up-gradation and transformation of existing railway system and plays an important role in enhancing the railway management system, level of service and safety. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) based integrated asset management technique for railways can appreciably increase the efficiency of traffic operations. It has been approved by Pakistan Railways that the proposed section can be used to manage operations and assets much more efficiently while minimizing the disruptions and delays. The use of real time positioning for a train locomotive will help in faster decision making, smoother rail operations and improved coordination.
