IRIS

IRIS a strategic project for the Romanian railway transport

The National Railway Company CFR-SA signed on 7 April this year with the British company International Computers Limited (ICL) an important contract in the value of approximately 31 million USD. This contract comprised in the Rehabilitation Project of the Railways refers to the electronics system of the railways is supported by the Transport Ministry and benefits of financing from BIRD, guaranteed by the Government of Romania. The contract comprises the accomplishment of the Integrated Electronics System of the Railways (IRIS) and monitors the increase of the quality in services for the electronics activity for exploitation, maintenance of the infrastructure and rolling material on the railways.

The IRIS system comprises five electronic applications:

The management of the railway infrastructure which will set on computers the activity of maintenance and repair ensuring support for the operational administration of the costs and control of the investments in infrastructure.

This sub-system will cover the following activities:

railway register for which will be used a modern concept of “geographical information” (GIS – Geographical Information Systems);

the administration of the fixed means from the infrastructure (rails, bridges, tunnels, buildings, installations, etc);

the management of activities for the maintenance of the infrastructure;

management of the working units (administration of the working teams, materials, working order, etc.);

the management of the projects for the capital repairs and new constructions (including the management of the investments).

CFR-SA shall purchase the parcels of specialized programs, which are already operational at the railways and which will be adapted to the specific conditions and to the structures of the Romanian railways.

All data will be integrated in a central data basis, which shall have two levels – a geographical and a relational one. The working rules and procedures will be unique for the users of the same type. Thus, this subsystem will ensure a unitary working method, standardized in the entire organization structure, as well as a more efficient control of the activities from the infrastructure, of the costs, the possibility to base the investments and financing applications. A series of instruments will be also created in order to establish the access tariffs regarding the goods and passenger operators.

The monitoring of the train circulation through the implementation of electronic activities for the planning and control of the train schedules and the substantiation of the tariffs.

The functions of this subsystem will be:

the planning of the train circulation (including the train schedule);

the monitoring of the circulation at central and regional level by receiving the information from approximately 300 railway junctions and stations;

the administration of the contracts for the circulation and tariff computation for goods and passenger operators.

The specialists within CFR-SA will accomplish the monitoring subsystem of the train circulation with technical assistance ensured by the company ICL. Thus will be set at disposal the traffic sector within the company, a unitary instrument for the planning and monitoring of the activities.

The management of the rolling material which shall implement electronic administration activities of the park for rolling material and those for its maintenance, ensuring the support for the financial administration and of the costs of these fixed assets.

This subsystem will have as applications:

the administration of the rolling material (wagons, locomotives);

the management of the maintenance activities;

the administration of the stocks of materials and spare parts for maintenance;

the administration of the technical documentation for the rolling material.

The specialists from CFR shall work in a mixed team with the experts of the supplier in order to ensure the exploitation and maintenance of the system at the required parameters.

The advantage of this method is the fact that it offers to the users a modern instrument for the monitoring of the park of rolling material, of the relations with the suppliers and for the management of the activities for maintenance and determining of costs.

The management of the exploitation activities of goods transports whose main client will be CFR Goods.

The main actions within this subsystem will be:

the administration of the transport demands and offers;

the administration of the consignment notes (filling in, computation of taxes, etc.);

the administration of the transport contracts;

the management of forming goods trains (activities from shunting yards and technical stations);

the control of the income from goods transport;

statistics, analysis and prognosis regarding the goods traffic.

It will ensure the implementation on the railways of the commercial market principles on whose basis a part of the activities of European goods transporters already operate. It shall integrate the applications which operate within CFR Goods – wagons entering/exiting over the state borders, the monitoring of loading/unloading for Romanian and foreign goods wagons on the CFR network, the accomplishment of the expedition and issuance costs, etc.

The ensuring of information for the management (MIS).

This subsystem shall have as a main scope:

the ensuring of information for the operational management levels for each sector;

the ensuring of information for management (MIS-Management Information System), departments of synthesis and analysis of CFR and of the sectors, as well as for the central management levels.

The IRIS system shall offer to the Romanian operators of railway transport a solid basis of hardware and software materials: 450 computers, which shall be used as servers for the local networks linked by network of data transmission of CFR at two powerful 10,000 SUN Enterprise computers; 2,100 PCs, which shall be used as working stations; 1,000 printers and other specialized equipment.

ICL is one of the main world suppliers of electronic systems and services and it operates in approximately 40 countries and has more than 22,000 employees.

In order to achieve the Integrated Electronic System for the Railways (IRIS), ICL will cooperate with companies specialized in this field: Integraph, Datasteam/SQL, Microsoft, Tenera, Transmark and British Rail Business System (BRBS).

Besides the cooperation in the field of transport, ICL also supplies electronic systems and efficient services to other activity zones: the financial and banking one, retail sales, the governmental and telecommunication ones.

During the last seven years, since it has been present on the Romanian market, through the varied offer for products and services, ICL has formed an important group of clients, among which: the National Statistics Commission, the Romanian Development Bank, Shell Gas, the Ministry of National Education, Bank Post, the Labor Ministry and now the National Railways Company CFR-SA. Tom Gibson - ICL and Viorel Simut - CN CFR SA

The computers network of which CFR will dispose is one of the most important in the country, as it is composed of a high number of local networks connected through a complex network of data transmission (C.25 and ATM) at an important number of servers for applications and data basis. This modern architecture will allow to the National Railways Company CFR-SA to also become a performer of electronics services for significant clients or for other interested organizations.

The implementation of this system represents an extremely ambitious project as it is based on a concept unique in Europe as it concerns the railways in aggregate, as well as its activity in their natural interdependence. The most modern equipment and concepts from the field of electronic technology.

In about 3 years, CFR which is the 4^th railways network from Europe from the point of view of the lines’ length and traffic volume will have the possibility to exchange data automatically with other railways. Thus, it shall also occupy one of the first places in regard to railway management.

Ileana Statie

.
.