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ICF Staff Club
AG129/18,VII Main Rd
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Issue# 81 Free Monthly News Bulletin – for Internal Circulation July 2012
Email: integralnewsicf@gmail.com Contact: 9003141464, 9003149539,9003149659.
Chief Editor: K.Ravi, SSE/Shop80
Associate Editors:
M.A.Jaishankar, SSE/M&P
A.R.S.Ravindra, SSE/WS
K.Sudhir, SSE/Shop41
Treasurer:R.Mehalan, Ex-SSE/IT-ICF
Shell Offices:V.Ramesh, SSE/Project
S.K.Satishkumar, SSE/M&P
K.Sekar, OS/Engg
N.Jeganivasan, Stores Inspector
N.Ganesh,SSE/MPO/S
N.Vijayan,Ch Typist/Plant
S.Ghatikachalarao,SSE/WS
N.Devaraju, SSE/Plant
S.N.Vivekanandan, Ch.OS/P9
Shell Shops: P.Baskaran, SSE/40
A-shed: R.Nagarajan,, SSE/10
B-shed: A.V.Gopalakrishna, SSE/22
Shop 24,25,26: P.Chandran, SSE/42
D&L-shed:R.Shanmugam, SSE/13
40,J,E: R.Lakshminarayanan, SSE/40
Stores: K.Thiyagarajan, CDMS
RT,RPF: R.Kasim, JE/48
11,23,41,TS:R.Jegathiswaran,SSE/41
Insp: J.Ananthakumar,SSE/42
Progress: M.Saravanan,SSE/PCO
CMT: G.Sivakumar, CMS-1
Electrical:D.T.Vijayaraj,SSE/45
Fur Offices:Elamurugan.N,SSE/MPO
Accts: Sudharsan.MN,SSO/Accts
PlgF,TS: G.Muthukrishnan,SSE
Stores:V.V.Mahadevan,OS/P8
Fur Shops: R.Sundarrajan,SSE/30
30: Bipinkumar Karn, SSE/30
31,32,34: P.Satyanarayana, JE/34
33,CMT,38:D.R.Suresh,SSE/33
80,81,37:D.Santhakumar,SSE/80
88: K.S.Rajakumar, SSE/88
Elect: M.Devaraj, SSE/85
36,54: A.Srivijayan,SSE/54
Progress:D.Baskar, SSE/PCO
TTC: J.Selvakumar,SSE/TC
D&D: Sabapathinathan.M,SSE/D&D
Hospital: Raju Balaji, Ch.OS
Web: K.Chandran, Webmaster/IT
Advisors:
S.Muthukumar,WM/TPTY/SCR
B.Chandrasekaran,SME/D-II
R.Velu, Ex-PE/PL/F-ICF
T.R.Ravichander,SME/I/F
ICF WINS
GOLDEN PEACOCK ECO INNOVATION AWARD 2012
Golden Peacock Awards, instituted by Institute of Directors in 1992, are now
regarded as holy grail of Corporate Excellence worldwide.
Golden Peacock Awards Secretariat receives over 1,000 entries per year for
various National and Global awards, from India and over 25 countries
worldwide. Organisations believe that the achievement of the Golden Peacock
Award is the most speedy and powerful way to build their brand image. The
Award winners are eligible to use the Golden Peacock Awards logo on all printed
and promotional materials for next one year, which evidences to all its customers
and suppliers the highest accolade acclaimed by the company. No other business
award today receives the kind of recognition and adulation among peers that the
Golden Peacock does.
Justice P.N. Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India and Acting Chairman, UN
Human Rights Committee, is the Chairman of the Golden Peacock Awards
Committee. The Award applications are assessed at 3 three levels by independent
assessors and finally by a grand Jury. The Global Awards are finalized by a Jury
headed by Dr. Ola Ullsten, former Prime Minister of Sweden.
All institutions whether public, private, non-profit, government, business,
manufacturing and service sector are eligible to apply. Leadership Awards are
determined through nomination. They provide not only worldwide recognition
and prestige but also a competitive advantage in driving business in this
tumultuous world under Golden Peacock Award models.
GM/ICF will receive the Golden Peacock Eco Innovation Award during the
14 th World Congress on Environment Management being held on 7 - 8 July
2012 in New Delhi.
490
M.C.S.Chandravalli,
D/o.C.Saravanan,
SSE/ WSC
X- Std TOP SCORERS FROM ICF FAMILY
Selvi Anjala Beegum, D/o.Abdul Hammed Kunil, SSE/39,
has secured 497/500 marks, same as that of state I
rank. She has secured centum in Sanskrit, Maths &
Science, 99 in Social science and 98 in English.
490 V.Nandhini
D/o.V.S.Venkatesh,
JE/37
489
V.Priyadharshini,
D/o.P.Udayasankaran,
JE/37
487
M.Monicaraj,
D/o C.K.Manikaraj,
Helper/Shop30

CBSE-X Top scorers
484 S.Shabnam
D/o.Renugadevi,
PS to CEE
483 T.Damini,
D/o.M.Taranirajan,
WM/Paint/F
482 C.S.Niharika,
D/o.C.D.Subramani,
SSE/40
10/10
R.Anusha
D/o.Prabhavathi
Ravikumar SE/IT
10/10
A.C.Krishna
Raghav S/o.
Padmavathi
Ch.OS/CWEF
10/10
M.Devadharshini
D/o.S.Murugan,
SSE/54
481 B.Kirithika,
D/o. M.Bharani
kumar, Tech-1/36
481 J.Lakshmipriya
D/o.S.Jayaraman,
OS/Engg/F
480 S.Nithya Sree
D/o.T.G.Sharmila,
SSE/Engg
479 S.Pradyumna
Rao, S/o.
S.Ghatikachala
Rao, SSE/WSC
478 H.B.Abhinand,
S/o.N.V.Harikumar,
SSE/MPOF
477 R.Sreya,
D/o. J.Rajesh Rao,
Tech-3/18
9.8/10
S.Surya
S/o.V.Sathiya
murthy
OS/Stores/S
9.6
M.Heerendra
kannan S/o.
G.Meganathan,
PCO/33
1147 in +2
S.Ranjani,
D/o.K.P.Indira,
Peon/MPOF
Person of the Month
1145 in +2
S.Sai
Prashanthi,
D/o.
S.Sundaresan,
OS/PB
475 M.Gauthami,
D/o.C.N.Mani,
SSE/PlgF
475 P.Arunkumar
S/o.A.Paramasivan
JrClerk/16
471 E.Swathi,
D/o. B.Ethiraj,
Tech-1/88
School Topper-
ICF SJ MHSS
March’12: Shell
M.Satyanarayanan, SSE/20
March’12: Fur
A.Thandavamoorthy,JE/39
April’12: Shell
J.Narayanan, Tech-1/10
April’12: Fur
D.Aribaskar, JE/30
471 J.Sandhya,
D/o. R.Janaki
Raman, Tech-1/36
464 R.Manojkumar
S/o.Late K.Raman
SME/Design
470 K.M.Aravinda
kumar,
S/o.K.Mohan,
Tech-1/21
463 K.Deekshidha
D/o.D.Hemamalini
JE/IT
470 S.Nikeshbabu
S/o. V.P.Sundaram,
SSE/42
456 R.Sowmya D/o.
R.Dharmambal
Jr of Peon/Plant
S/Shri R.Ravindran,SSE82, H.V.Ramakrishnamurthy,
SSE29, B.Venkatesaprasad, Sailesh Sriram Behenkar &
N.Sasikumar, JE/D&D, S.Rajasekaran, Insp/82 have been
awarded in appreciation of their survey of passenger
amenities provided in MRVC coaches to be considered
for MUTP phase-II project on CR & WR.
Verify your medicine
Whenever a unit of medicine is produced at the factory, it
is labeled with a unique code. When you purchase a
medicine you can send this code, which is at the back side
of the unit to 9901099010. You will receive an SMS
which tells whether the medicine is genuine and provides
you will batch number, date of expiry and other
information. ---- -Antony George Sahayaraj, SSE/42.

New Holiday Home built by ICF at COURTRALAM was
inaugurated by GM/ICF on 27 th June. It consists of 4
Suites - 2 each for Gazetted & Non-Gazetted
CIRCULARS
AC22: Clarification and mode of filling up of non –
gazetted posts as per 6CPC recommendations.
AC23: Seminar cum meditation retreat on “Meeting
challenges, greeting change” at Gyan Sarovar, Mt Abu.
AC24: List of holiday homes on Indian Railways.
Last date for submission of application:
Asst Manager, Manager, DGM, SrDGM- RITES 13.8.12
The following staff will function as secretary for
canteen - Smt Annie D Suther, S&WI/S, Workers
canteen & Admn office canteen/ Shell; Smt C.P.Nandini,
S&WI/F S&WI/S, Workers canteen & Admn office
canteen/ Fur
• Sri V.K.Gupta, Secretary/RB has taken over as GM/NR,
Sri Alok Johri, CAO/Rae Bareli Coach Factory, has
assumed charge as GM/NCR and Sri R.S.Virdi,
CME/NFR, has taken over as GM/NFR. Sri R.C.Jat,
COS/RCF, has become Secretary/RB.
Birthday of Sri V.P.Singh, former Prime Minister, was
celebrated in a grand manner by ICFOBC Association. In
shop48 portrait was opened by Sri P.Sivaraman,
DyCME/Plant. In Fur canteen portrait was opened by Sri
M.E.Srinivasan, DyCME/Fur. In shop88 and assn office
portrait was garlanded. S/Shri R.Dharmaraj, President,
K.Ramamurthy, Secretary, M.Thangavel Pandian,
Treasurer, S.Anbukumar, WP, S.Ramesh, WGS and other
members of the assn were present. Office bearers of
SC/ST assn, SCMs and other union leaders participated.
OFFICIAL POSTINGS
Name S/Shri/ Smt Previous Present
S.Kumar DyCMM E.Rly
K.N.Babu DyCME/D-II Secy to GM
S.Anandan SPO/G SPO/Bills
A.R.Suthakaran APO/Bills APO/Gaz
K.S.Sridharan SME/DSD PE/PL/S
K.N.Mohan PE/PL/S WM/A-1/S
B.Chandrasekaran WM/A-1/S SME/D-II
E.Jothipandian AEE/Plg AEE/M-II
Sanjeev Kumar Singh AMM/UP/S Tfr to Patna
Pragati Kumar C.Rly AMM/UP/S
Sri Jagadish Alagar, DyCPO, has been nominated as Dy
Mukhya Rajbasha Adhikari.
Sri Debi Prasad dash, CEE/QC&C, has been nominated as
president of ICF institute committee in place of Sri
Umesh Rai consequent to his deputation to CMRL.
Shri A.K.Mittal, GM/SWR, has assumed the additional
charge of the post of GM/SR, on 31 st May. Shri Deepak
Krishan, GM/SR, retired on superannuation on
31.05.2012.
The GOC Workshop has been adjudged the best
workshop in Southern Railway. During 2011-12, GOC
released 138 diesel locos from POH against the target of
79, besides overhauling 15 locomotives of PSUs. It had
also converted 5 MG locos into BG shunting locos under
RSP and had manufactured 298 wagons. In recognition of
this achievement, Shri S.J. Sood, CME/SR, presented the
shield to Shri P. Mahesh, CWM/GOC on 29 th June.
To cater to the needs of production shops, compressed air
line was provided to the pillars outside shop37. Thirty
points were provided in a short time. This was
inaugurated by CWE/F on 19 th June. CWE/F announced
group cash award to the staff in appreciation of their
work.
We deeply mourn the sudden demise of J.Ganesan,
Tech-2/34 and K.Rajendran, OS/CBS.

STAFF INFLOW – LAST MONTH
Sl Name S/Shri Design Shop
1 Praveen Kumar.K App Mech TTC
2 Anand.B App Mech TTC
3 Lokesh Babu.J App Mech TTC
4 Suresh Babu.D App Mech TTC
5 Prasad.P.R App Mech TTC
6 Anand Paramesh.B App Mech TTC
7 Sumbu Kumaran.A App Mech TTC
8 Satheesh Kumar.D App Mech TTC
9 Sivakumar.M App Mech TTC
10 Yaddala Anand App Mech TTC
11 Chinni.S App Mech TTC
12 Komaragiri Ramesh App Mech TTC
13 Taragaturi VD Sarathbabu App Mech TTC
14 Rajeswar Hansdah App Mech TTC
15 Raju Mahali App Mech TTC
16 Bhagaban Bisoyi App Mech TTC
17 Ahim Deori App Mech TTC
18 Saurabh Chandra Sharma App Mech TTC
19 Venkateswararao Darla App Mech TTC
20 Dileep.U.S Helper 74
21 Vimal Kumar.M Helper 74
22 Sebastian.P.J Helper 74
23 Payani.M Helper 74
24 Elumalai.K Helper Engg
25 Anthoni Samy.J Helper Engg
26 Jose.M.A Helper Engg
27 Munirathinam.P Helper Engg
28 Rajendran.B Helper Engg
29 Sasi Kumar.V Helper Engg
30 Ajitha Kumar Kooloth Helper Engg
Valappil
31 Soman Pillai.N Helper 88
32 Rajasekaran.T Peon Plg
33 Udhaya Saravanan.N Peon Plg
34 Mangal Barail Helper 48
35 Jayakrishnan.R Tech-2 16
36 Pintu Kumar Meena Peon GM’s off
37 Kadu Lal Meena Peon GM’s off
38 Bhoor Singh Meena Vendor Cant/S
39 Murari Lal Meena Peon 74
40 Baliram Prasad Gupta Sancleaner Engg
41 Jaiyan Meena Sancleaner Engg
42 Dinesh Kumar Meena Sancleaner Engg
43 Banwari Lal Meena Sancleaner Engg
44 Ajay Kumar Saw Sancleaner Engg
45 Raju Kumar Sancleaner Engg
46 Mukesh Chand Meena sancleaner Engg
47 Ravi Relli Peon CWES
48 Tulagapu Purnachandrarao Peon CWEF
49 Mukesh Kumar Meena Peon CWES
50 Vishram Meena Peon CWEF
51 Bharat Singh Meena Peon CWES
52 Dharam Singh Meena Helper 88
53 Vikram Kumar Meena Helper 48
54 Rajeev Kumar San cleaner Hosp
55 Bagish Kumar San cleaner Hosp
56 Kamlesh Kumar Meena San cleaner Hosp
57 Pudumai Raja.R Peon PB/S
58 Sajeevan.M.P Peon PB/S
59 Balaselvam.S Pon PB/S
60 Barun Barman Peon PB/S
61 Om Prakash Meena Peon TO/S
62 Paramasivan.P Peon PB/S
63 Shyam Prosad Peon Stores/S
64 Ramawatar Meena Peon Stores/F
65 Sivanandhan.Y Appmech TTC
66 Praveen Kumar.P Helper 13
STAFF OUTFLOW – LAST MONTH
Sl Name S/Shri Design Mode
1 Sundaravadivelu.N Helper/77c Dismissal
2 Venkataraman.V Tech-1/36 Dismissal
3 Chinnusamy.A Sse12 RITES
4 Pandi.K Helper/77c Transfer
5 Sundaresan.TD Help48 Transfer
6 Nandgaonkar Rahul Gr app77d Removal
7 Samuel.CH Hosp attd91a Removal
8 Diwan Chand Bung peon90d Resign
9 Prasad.K Tech-1/22 V.R
10 John Joseph.G Tech-2/30 V.R
EMPLOYEES RETIRING ON 31 st JULY ’12
1 Chandran.M SrTech/BS 13
2 Chelladurai .P SrTech/Weld 14
3 Kasi.G Tech-1/Elec 20
4 Vittal Doss .N Tech-2/Weld 20
5 Selvaraj .P Tech-1/Weld 21
6 Krishnamurthy .C Tech-1/Weld 21
7 Sundararaj.M Tech-2/Weld 21
8 Sundararajan.Aj JE 23
9 Jeevanandam .P SrTech/Paint 25
10 Durairaj.S Tech-1/Paint 25
11 Veeramani.S SrTech/Weld 40
12 Pushparaj.Cm JE 42
13 Kumar.K Tech-1 CWE/S
14 Sridharan.D Inspector/Plg.. off GM's Off
15 Mathiyalagan .T Progman PCO/S
16 Anburose J . ASI RPF
17 Visalam.L Ch.OS Stores/FD
18 Gideon Selvaraj .W Tech-1/Elec 28
19 Rajamanoharan.V Tech-1/Elec 28
20 Manoharan .K Tech-2/Elec 29
21 Suryababu.A SrTech/carp 30
22 Prabakaran .R SrTech/Carp 30
23 Logaiah .K SrTech/Carp 30
24 Rathinaswamy .N Tech-1/FGL 30
25 Anandan .A SrTech/Wood 32
26 Elumalai .K SrTech/Elec Mac
35
27 Rajendran.S SrTech/Paint 36
28 Chandrasekaran . SrTech/Paint 36
29 Thandavamoorthy.A SSE 39
30 Rajaraman .R SrTech/Elec 39
31 Palanivelu .G SrTech/Elec 39
32 Balasundaram .G SrTech/Paint 54
We wish them A HAPPY AND PEACEFUL RETIRED LIFE.

ABOUT ICF
by Sri R.Srinivasan, SSE/TTC, 9003149472
B shed
This shed is the most important large shed in shell
Division, it is of 305 metres length & of 80 metres
width and having IV Bays, I & II are called higher Bays
& III & IV are called lower Bays due to their roof height.
Here Assemblies of the Roof, Under frame & Body shell
are carried out. It consists of Shop 21, Shop 22, and Shop
14.
Shop 21 has Roof section & U/F section.
Roof Assembly:
Major components of Roof are Cant rail, Carline, Purline,
Roof sheet, ‘L’ Stiffeners and Brackets for Light, Fan,
Roof ventilator.
Steps:
Cant rail parts are welded and formed for required
length.
Cant rail Assembly put in Roof Jig & clamped.
Marking for placing Carlines done and Carlines are
placed and welded to Cant Rails.
‘U’ Stiffener or Purline welded for full length is
placed over Car line.
‘L’ Stiffeners placed & welded to Carline.
Roof sheets are placed first in the middle and then
towards end with over lapping of 15 mm.
Roof Bands are used to keep them in position.
Tack welding & then full welding done.
Roof is rotated & welding with carline vertical
down hand position.
Two holes are made at the ends for lifting.
After declamping, the roof is lifted and placed over
Trestle (Just a stand)
Various detail items are welded as per drawing.
Inspection is carried out and if passed it is painted
with ROZ primer.
There are about 10 Jigs available out of which 2
for only EMUs and 4 are Flexi type (EMU or
conventional) and remaining are for Special builds.
Welding Sequence:
i.e from A, then B…… to F
UNDER FRAME ASSEMBLY:(conv.)
It is the base structure of shell which holds all other
structures like Sidewall, End wall, Roof, Partitions and
Interior furnishing items. It is a very important &
critical assembly of shell.
It consists of sole bar, Head stock, Body Bolster,
Framing below trough floors, Cross bearers, Trough
floor sheets, Brackets, stiffeners, Lifting Pads, etc.
First Solebar of Z cross section are assembled for the
full length by welding and placed both sides of U/F jig .
Positions of Body bolster, Cross bearers and Framing
below trough floor marked.
Body Bolsters one at each end placed & welded and
then Two Head stocks one at each end positioned &
assembled.
Then framing below trough floor and cross bearers are
placed. Next the doorway stiffeners are marked &
welded.
Full welding to be done in sequential method to avoid
distortion (ie from centre towards end).
U/F welding Sequence
There are about 13 U/F Jigs available and out which 3
are for EMUs, 5 are of Flexi type (BGS & EMU) and
remaining for special types.
U/F assy time is decided by no. of quotas required to
complete it. For conventional & AC 6 quotas and for
complicated types like DEMU HHP is of 15 quotas.
A new method of making the U/F in three parts and
joining them in the Jig is being followed for EMUs. (ie)
The U/F end parts are made at Shop 18 and brought to
Shop 21 for final Assembly of Under frame.
The U/F after Jig work is tilted and placed over trestle
and the back pieces, channel supports, angles, brackets
and flats for ply wood flooring support etc are welded.
The U/F is checked dimensionally & inspected as per
the drawing and after clearance it is painted with ROZ
primer.
SHOP 22
Body shell assembly
Body shell assembly is carried out using a fixture named
at ICF as Body assembly jig. There are about 13 jigs, out
of which 5 are for conventional builds, 2 for EMUs, 3 for
Flexi type and 3 for LHB, DEMU, Srilanka etc.
First the U/F is loaded in the Jig by locating the body
bolster exactly in its position. Then camber setting is
done.
Camber is the negative deflection given intentionally to
the U/F to compensate for the sagging of the U/F when it
is fully loaded so that the U/F can remain straight.
The Camber is measured at 10 reference points (5 on each
side sole bar), zero reference being the centre line of body
bolsters. With the help of tie rods the U/F is lifted at both
ends and centre as per the requirement.
In case of ragging in colleges/ schools, complaints
can be lodged at raggingcomplaints@gmail.com

SKIN TENSIONING SYSTEM
A
B (UF
Centre)
Conv.& Trailer 6 mm 15 mm 6 mm
Motor coaches 10 25 10
LHB 0 0 0
Camber is measured and after clearance by
Inspection other sub assemblies will be assembled. Coach
centerline is marked over the U/F, middle Sidewall
erected, body pillars and Sole bar are welded. Lavatory
sidewalls are lowered, erected & welded with middle
sidewall & U/F. End walls of both sides are assembled,
checked with plumb bob to have a slant outside by 30 mm
to compensate distortion due to welding. Roof is placed
over, first welded to endwall and then to side wall pillars,
etc. Body width is checked with gauge and any correction
required is done by pushing or pulling side wall.
Allowance of ±10mm is allowed over the width.
Again the camber is re inspected & after passing
it is lifted & placed on dip lorries to move on the track.
In Shop 22- X stand section Door Corner Assy,
Foot step support sheet welding, full welding of Lavatory
side wall & End wall are done.
Note:
1. All the shell Assembly works are dependent on
Overhead Cranes. To minimise the Crane dependency a
new concept of Roll on jig (1 No. for conventional type
coach) is being introduced in the lower bay. In this the
end structure is hinged type and after the Assembly of
shell is over, lifting with special jacks and then pulled
out with special dip lorries.
2. New EOT cranes of 20/5 ton capacity ,4 nos are being
introduced to cater the need.
3. New MONO RAIL system for transferring the detail
and sub assembly items from A shed to B shed is being
considered.
Shop 14:
The XI & XII stand work of shop 22 are re-arranged with
a new shop no: 14.
In XI stand Spot heating / Skin Tensioning, Window bar
assy activities are done.
In XII stand Partition frame assemblies are done.
Spot heating is carried out to impart strength through
induced stress to the side wall and end wall sheets. While
Spot heating the metal molecules expand and during
cooling contract and move towards the centre of the spot
and immediately by hammering they are evenly
distributed.
In modern and LHB coaches it is done by the method
called Skin Tensioning System.
A
REASON:
In strength calculation Skin is assumed to be flat
to carry tensile load, but not so because of various
reasons. So it improves buckling strength of sheet.
Contractual demand of flatness of 1.5mm for a length of
2m can be achieved by heat Skin tensioning system.
Visual appearance is highly improved. Skin tensioning
avoids vibration & deformation of Sidewall sheet during
service or due to temp changes. Acoustic parameters are
improved. If sidewall sheet vibrates paint, filler will get
crack and expose the surface to corrosion.
Details:
Electromagnet of flat surface of 1m * 1m* 200mm.
Magnetic power of 12000kg , Control unit, Pole reversal
unit, Travelling portal, Perforated steel plates(fixtures) of
various sizes(300*200*20mm) with handle, Multi point
nozzle for Oxy acetylene flame.
Working:
Magnet brought to the Outer side wall position. Inner side
perforated fixture held, magnet is switched ON at low
force and once adjustment is over Full force is applied.
Now the Oxy acetylene Torch with four nozzles brought
for heating inner side wall for 2-3 sec just to arrive purple
red hot. After covering all the holes in the fixture, De
magnetized and plate shifted to other location. Process
repeated till the Side wall completed. Strengthening is
done by holding the sheet between magnet and fixture &
retained by heating & tensioning.
(-- to be continued)
SAIL to invest Rs.21,000 crore in West Bengal
The West Bengal government has entered into an MoU
with the SAIL and the Burn Standard Company Ltd
(BSCL) to set up a railway wagon and component factory
in East Midnapore's Jellingham.
Silent Track by TATA
Tata Steel plans to bring to India a unique railway track
laying technology called ‘Silent Track' which will reduce
noise in the vicinity of tracks by up to 50 %. The steel
major's European arm has successfully developed and laid
‘SilentTrack' in the UK. It has installed the tracks at
Blackfriars station in London. Noise and vibration from
moving trains cause lot of discomfort not only to the
passengers but also to the people residing in proximity to
the stations. The need for such ‘Silent Track' rail system
assumes importance in the country, where the tracks run
inside the cities.
Separate timing for Tatkal tickets
From 10.07.2012 booking of Tatkal ticket will start at
10.00 hours on the previous day of journey from train
originating station instead of 0800 hours at present. No
authorised agents, including agents of IRCTC and
RTSAs/RTAs will be allowed to book Tatkal tickets from
1000 hours to 1200 hours. The existing restriction of not
allowing these agents booking of general tickets on the
opening day from 0800 hours to 1000 hours will also
continue.

Business Continuity with Legacy Applications Server
Virtualization – ICF Stores & Hospital Applications
-by Sri.G.Loganathan, Sr. EDP Manager, ICF
How Virtualization came handy?
Hardware virtualization is normally used to consolidate
server resources for better utilization and management, by
running multiple Virtual Servers on a single hardware
platform. However, the ability to mask the actual
hardware configuration to the guest OS, by creating a
make believe hardware configuration to suit the needs of
the guest OS, by way of virtual machine, came handy for
running the legacy application. Once it was confirmed
that “Vmware” hypervisor has compatibility with SCO
Open Server 5.x, it was decided to try out virtualization
with Vmware to run the legacy application, by conducting
a Proof of Concept (POC). POC was conducted
successfully, giving the required confidence to switch
over the production environment to the virtual world. The
following hardware configuration, based on contemporary
server configurations available in the market, keeping in
mind the cost, was arrived at:
Server Memory HDD CPU OS
Name (RAM) (GB)
Server 1 4*4GB 2*300
with
RAID
1
Server2
for
Standby
Network
Attache
d
Storage
(NAS)
4*4GB 2*300
with
RAID
1
2GB 3*500
With
RAID
5
Quad-Core
2 * Xeon
5500
Processors
Quad-Core
2 * Xeon
5500
Processors
Quad-Core
Intel Xeon
3400 series
processors
VMware
ESXi 4.1
VMware
ESXi 4.1
Windows
Server 2008
Std
While making out the configuration, care was taken to
ensure that adequate redundancy is built to safeguard
against any single point of failure. Two identical servers
have been taken to replicate the Virtual Machine
environment, in active-passive mode, one working as a
cold stand by, to be put into use in case of active server
failure. Manual intervention is required to switch over, in
this set up. This arrangement was done to ensure that the
cost is kept to the minimum and also keeping in mind the
nature of the application (which is not mission critical and
some downtime is acceptable and tolerable). However,
sufficient redundancy within the server was built in by the
way of mirroring the HDD in RAID 1 configuration (for
the host environment) and also providing a redundant NIC
card. The entire Virtual Machine, Operating System
environment and the application, were created in a
separate server (Wipro Z1532) acting as Network
Attached Storage (NAS), which has RAID 5 configuration
for the Hard disk, i.e. failure against one disk failure is
protected. One DAT drive also has been provided for
taking backup of the entire setup.
The advantage of this configuration is not only the
business continuity is ensured against hardware
obsolescence, but also in reducing the downtime
drastically, as the entire Virtual Machine environment
(including the Guest OS, SCO Open Server 5.x along with
the application and data) is like any other file, which can
be moved from Server to Server and the entire system
brought back to life in less than an hour. This is a big
advantage, as compared to the earlier downtimes
running into weeks.
The above configuration was bought and installed and the
legacy application was ported successfully in the month of
December’11. Since then the legacy stores application is
running without any issues. The Servers have been
installed at IT Center and the administration of the Server
is with the department concerned, enabling better
management and maintenance.
There has been tremendous improvement in both response
time as well as availability. The Servers procured are
latest, which give much better performance than the
earlier Servers, thus improving the response time. IT
Center works on 24 x 7 basis and therefore the Servers are
available on 24 x 7 basis, whereas earlier the Servers used
to be switched off at 17:00 hrs daily and were not
available thereafter till the next day morning.
Moving Ahead
Successfully moving one legacy application gave the
confidence to look for moving other similar legacy
applications. Medical department, which has similar setup
i.e. SCO Open Server 5.x and locally developed Foxplus
application for hospital management, was more than
willing to host their legacy application also in a virtual
environment. Main medical stores (from 1996) activities
like receipts, issues and procurement, sub-stores activities
like issues to patients and processing of local purchase
etc, CMD office transactions like addition and updating of
patient details, budget register, miscellaneous bills entry
etc. and Hospital kitchen activities are still being run in
this legacy system. Approximately 100 databases and 160
programs constitute this legacy application. There was a
server crash in the month of Oct’11, resulting in stoppage
of work. Still medical department is not able to find parts
for the crashed server. Medical department legacy
application was also moved successfully in the month of
February’12.

What Next?
ICF Accounts department (both Shell and Furnishing)
also has somewhat similar setup. They use SCO Open
Server 6.x version to host their application in Unify
(another legacy RDBMs, which is no more supported).
The target is to virtualize these servers also in 2012-13.
Similarly, Personnel branch have their locally developed
applications in identical setup. Till such time these legacy
applications are replaced with contemporary technologies,
they have to be kept alive. Gaining the confidence of these
departments, to move them to the virtual environment, is
the goal of IT Center.
As an extension of this, IT center is seriously looking into
Desktop Virtualization, for the desktops available at IT
center. Officers and programmers of IT center, have over
a period of time, accumulated lot of IPR in their
respective desktops, which needs to be properly backed
up. The present system of individuals backing up their
own system, is erratic as well as unreliable. Any loss of
data from their Desktops, will be a great setback not only
for themselves, but also for the organization.
Specialty
Use of virtualization as a solution for running of such
legacy platform and application (SCO Unix and Foxbase)
is done for the first time on IR. This is an achievement for
the IT Center of ICF.
Drain petrol to Book two wheeler by train
Passengers booking their two-wheelers by train should
ensure that the petrol tanks are empty. Passengers failing
to do so are liable to be prosecuted under Section-67 of
Railways Act, with fine upto `1000/-and/or imprisonment
upto 3 years.
Retired staff to help public at ATVMs
The Southern Railway has decided to engage retired
railway employees to help commuters obtain tickets from
the Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs)
installed at several suburban railway stations. Designated
as “facilitators”, these staff will not only help commuters
get their tickets with ease, but also will educate them
about the benefits of these ATVMs. The scheme has been
introduced at the Perambur railway station on a trial basis.
It will be extended to 29 stations of Chennai division.
Flat-screen TVs in Shatabdi, express trains
Flat screen television sets are to be provided on five trains
MAS-SBC& MAS-MYS Shatabdi Exp, Lalbagh Exp and
TVC-GUV Exp in the first phase of the new on-board
entertainment programme. Soon, popular movies and
television serials would be telecast directly via satellite on
more trains. One of the first services to have this system
was the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Shatabdi Express. Since 2 nd
week of june, passengers travelling on the MAS-SBC
Shatabdi trains have been viewing these programmes.
Four flat screen monitors have been installed in all
coaches. A few months later, every seat will have its own
TV console fitted with head phones for entertainment.
The three-year contract for the five trains has been
awarded to Choice Vision, Trivandrum and its subsidiary
Transvision Digital Media Private Limited, Chennai.
Double deck AC train to Bangalore
SR would introduce 12 new trains for Tamil Nadu,
including a double decker AC exp between Chennai and
Bangalore. It would depart from MAS at 07.25hrs. The
timings of Train No. 12639/12640 Brindavan Exp would
be revised from July 1, with dep from MAS at 07.50hrs
instead of 07.15hrs and reaching SBC at 14.00 hrs. Other
Express trains introduced include Bikaner-Coimbatore
(Weekly) Superfast AC Express, Yesvantpur-Kochuveli
(Weekly) AC Express (Via Erode), Shalimar-Chennai
Central (Weekly) Superfast Express, Visakhapatnam-
Chennai Central (Weekly) Superfast Express, Asansol-
Chennai Central (Weekly) Superfast Express, Chennai
Central-Puri (Weekly) Superfast Express,
Tiruchchirappalli-Tirunelveli (Day-time) Intercity (Daily)
Superfast Expresss, Tirunelveli-Dadar (Weekly) Superfast
Express, Kacheguda-Madurai (Weekly) Express and
Tirupati-Mannargudi (Tri-weekly) Express. The Southern
Railway also introduced two passenger trains, one
between Villupuram and Mayiladuthurai and the second
between Villupuram and Katpadi (Daily).
CHANGES IN DEPARTURE TIMINGS AT MAS
T. No From To Existing Proposed
12688 Dehradun/ Chennai —— 2.40
Chandigarh
12243 Chennai Coimbatore 6.50 7.15
12639 Chennai Bangalore 7.15 7.50
12507 Ernakulam Guwahati 9.55 10.00
15227 Yesvantpur Muzaffarpur 9.55 10.00
16323 Trivandrum Shalimar 9.55 10.00
12296 Patna Bangalore 14.00 13.55
12577 Dibrugarh Bangalore 14.45 14.40
12969 Coimbatore Jaipur 17.35 17.40
12669 Chennai Chhapra 17.35 17.40
12967 Chennai Jaipur 17.35 17.40
16041 Chennai Alleppey 21.15 20.45
12671 Chennai Mettupalayam 21.00 21.15
T. No 12685 becomes daily from 21.08.2012
CHANGES IN DEPARTURE TIMINGS AT MS
T. No From To Existing Proposed
16853 Chennai Tiruchchirappalli 8.20 8.15
12635 Chennai Madurai 12.45 13.20
16723 Chennai Trivandrum 19.15 19.35
12693 Chennai Tuticorin 19.35 19.15
12637 Chennai Madurai 21.15 21.20
Shalimar-Chennai Superfast Weekly Express
Shalimar-Chennai-Shalimar Superfast Weekly Express
has been introduced. Tr#22825, Dep from Shalimar-12.20
hrs on Tuesdays, Arr at MAS-17.00 hrs on the next day.
Tr# 22826 dep from MAS- 16.15 hrs on Thursdays and
Arr at Shalimar- 21.30 hrs next day.