10th International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA) Conference began in New Delhi today. The three-day Conference was today inaugurated by the Minister of Railways, Government of India, Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal. Chairman, Indian Railway Board, Shri Vinay Mittal, Chairman of IHHA, Shri Ranjan Jain, CEO/IHHA, Mr. Scott Lovelace and Mr. Semith Kalay, Vice Chairman, IHHA were among those present on the occasion. More than 700 delegates from all parts of the world are participating in the Conference.
Speaking on the occasion, Railway Minister Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal said that in view of the pace of growth which the world has witnessed over the years, there is obvious need for faster, economical and greater movement of goods. It is a challenge for the transportation sector to transport goods to mega level required by the growing global economy. Hence, building bulk transportation capacity is of paramount importance and it is in this context that the central theme of the Conference namely “Building Transport Capacity through Heavy Haul Operation” has been chosen. Shri Bansal said that Heavy Haul Operations is now the need of the hour. The Minister pointed out that there is at the same time utmost need of considering technologies which aim at reducing the unit cost of transportation. Appreciating the fact that Railway is the most efficient and environment friendly mode of transportation, the Minister pointed out that there is bound to be greater dependence on Railways for transporting goods on a very large scale which is possible only through Heavy Haul Operations.
Referring to the needs in India, the Railway Minister said that India too is a growing economy and needs transport connectivity both for carrying essential commodities to every nook and corner of the country and also to carry its people from one place to other.
Referring to the Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) project of Indian Railways, Shri Bansal said that both the Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana (Punjab) to Dankuni (Near Kolkata) and Western Corridor from Jawahar Lal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai to Dadri/Tughlakabad (Near Delhi) covering 3,400 kms. of two busiest legs of the Golden Quadrilateral are being designed for 32.5 tonnes axle load trains which is higher than present 25 tonnes axle load trains. He said that tangible progress has been made on the construction on these Dedicated Freight Corridors and we need to develop more such corridors capable of running, higher axle load trains. Appreciating the progress made by Australia, the Railway Minster said that 40-tonnes axle load trains achieved by them is really praiseworthy and we too need to constantly work towards achieving higher and higher axle load.
The Railway Minister Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal hoped that the Conference will provide an opportunity to experts of this crucial subject to discuss all aspects pertaining to Heavy Haul Operations like track, traction, rolling stock, signaling, safety, energy efficiency, cost, practical feasibility etc.
The Railway Minister also inaugurated a trade exhibition running in parallel to the Conference which is displaying technologies and products from 25 different exhibitors of the supply and services community from around the world.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman, Indian Railway Board, Shri Vinay Mittal said that besides the two ongoing Dedicated Freight Corridors, Indian Railways has also undertaken a survey for taking up the work of similar Dedicated Freight Corridors on another four high freight density legs of the Golden Quadrilateral covering a length more than 6,000 kms. Referring to the fact that heavy haul operations require strict maintenance regimes, Shri Mittal said that its impact needs an in-depth study considering the life cycle, costs & asset reliability, availability, maintenance ability and safety. International rail community will have to come forward in developing projects which reduce degradation of infrastructure, rolling stock and maintenance interventions. We look forward to IHHA to play a leadership role, not only in studying these aspects but also benchmark different technologies, practices and pattern of energy consumption for the benefit of railway system.
Railway Minister also released a compilation of all the papers which are being presented at the three-day Conference.
International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA) Conference is organised once in every four years. The last conference was held in Shanghai China in 2009. The Conference is an excellent forum for railway researchers, practitioners, policy makers and industry leaders from all over the world to meet and share their knowledge and experience and perhaps open new frontiers in heavy haul railway operation.
Heavy haul rail operation has evolved over the years as a technology to transport bulk commodities in large volumes and reduce the unit cost of transportation. Heavy haul envisages increased axle load of 24 tonnes and above. Train lengths have also increase up to four kilometres. The trailing train loads vary from 10,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes.
IHHA is a worldwide non government, scientific and technological association of Heavy Haul Railways incorporate in USA and is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in Heavy Haul operation, Engineering, maintenance and technology. India, USA, Canada, Brazil, Russia, China Sweden, South Africa, and Australia are the members of International Heavy Haul Association.
Three day Technical Program will address recent research and best practices related to key issues involved in running heavy haul and long haul freight trains. The central theme of the conference is “Building Transport Capacity through Heavy Haul Operation”. The technical Programme presents over 120 oral papers in four parallel sessions for three days. There is a poster session presenting 25 papers. Papers will be presented by experts from more than 16 countries. Participation of nearly 300 foreign and 500 Indian delegates is expected. An exhibition to showcase new technologies is being organised for all the three days at the same venue. The conference is preceded by three day Track and rail wheel interaction workshop where 19 leading experts in the field of Heavy Haul will teach Best Practices for Heavy Haul Operations-Infrastructure Construction and maintenance issues.
Indian Railways have launched a huge programme of building Heavy Haul Lines having potential axle load of 32.5 tonnes under the programme name Dedicated Freight Corridors. Few lines connecting ports are being built or operated at 25 tonne axle load and are transporting iron ore. The conference is sponsored by large numbers of corporate both from India and abroad.