Information technologies allow to manage the railway front on container terminals during an era of UKP

2018

On September 21, 2018 the Solvo company reported as the last several years in Russia actively develop delivery service of containers by means of the accelerated container trains, or UKP.

UKP are trains which form only from platforms for transportation of containers and go strictly according to the set schedule without stops or with their minimum quantity to ways. For September, 2018 the regular movement UKP on different sections, generally on the way from Moscow and St. Petersburg to China and to the Far East of Russia is organized.

Among advantages of this type of service select the following:

• Delivery speed (increase many times – more than 1000 km a day);
• Strict train schedule;
• Lack of overloads of containers from the platform on the platform;
• The accelerated processing of structure in points of sending and appointment.

The last point just also became possible, thanks to implementation of modern information technologies on container terminals. Development and deployment of a system the Intelligent Container Terminal at one of the stations "PJSC TransContainer" near Novosibirsk at the end of 2017 was the similar project.

So, the information system allows to register cars and structures in a system by different methods, including using a special complex of surveillance cameras and specialized program algorithms for recognition of numbers of cars of railway structure at the time of arrival. In addition a system can make in the automatic mode plans of loading of sea containers for the UKP platforms on the basis of specifications, check processing and generate necessary reporting documents.

Schedule of arrival/departure of container trains

Start of delivery services of containers by means of UKP by different operators imposes requirements to information systems of terminals and stations, one of them - need for automation of the schedule of arrival and departure of trains. So, for example the Solvo.TOS system allows to create the schedule of UKP on the basis of which a system automatically plans sending specific orders on departure, having compared data on a delivery point for containers from the order and a destination station of the container train, departure time and others.

The employee of the terminal can easily create schedules of UKP in a management system as manually, using the special interface, and to import the train schedule from third-party ICs.

Accounting of arrival of UKP

Long time when processing the railway front on the Russian container terminals to acceptance inspectors was to use enough mobile shipping documentations for fixing of a visit of structures. At emergence of UKP need of an instant starting information on arrival/departure of the train on the terminal appeared.

Thanks to such technologies as optical character recognition (OCR), on container terminals the possibility of automatic identification of arrival/departure of trains, including UKP appeared. Thus, it led to saving of time of acceptance inspectors and tallymans.

Numbers of containers and platforms are read out by video fixing cameras at the time of arrival of structure and at once recognized using specialized program algorithms. This information is in real time transferred to the Solvo.TOS system, and there is an automatic creation of works on a documentary design of a visit, and due to automatic filling of fields in documents time of acceptance inspectors is saved.

Observance of specifications (specification, MTU)

Sending any load is impossible without observance of rules of placement of containers on the car and their razvesovka depending on platform model. Check compliances of correctness of loading of containers for cars according to the specification and MTU manually, using reference books, becomes very labor-intensive process, especially in the conditions of required efficiency when forming of the accelerated container trains. Therefore and here modern information technologies come to the rescue. So, for example, in a management system for container Solvo.TOS terminals the possibility of accounting of the specification and MTU at automatic check of compliance of correctness of loading of containers on cars (platforms) is provided and also in the mode of automatic creation of the plan of loading of containers.

Planning of loading and unloading of UKP

Planning of loading of separate cars manually by means of classical xls of tables consigns to the past, for this purpose specialized tools are used now. Besides, there were expanded requirements to the similar systems in the light of need of formation of UKP taking into account hundreds of different parameters and restrictions. In the Solvo.TOS system there is a special graphical interface "The Accelerated Container Trains" which allows the user quickly and just to enter into a system initial data about UKP with which it is necessary to work and perform planning of loading in the different modes – manual, semi-automatic and automatic. For planning in the automatic mode the user has enough during creation of the next train in a system to specify its length in conditional cars, the number of containers which is planned to loading and to give a command to a system on automatic planning through a context menu. In the manual mode when forming railway giving on loading the scheduler drags containers from the list of loading by a mouse on available platforms on drag and drop technology. At emergence of any discrepancies in a configuration of cars, scales or other conditions a system instantly gives an error message and the comment with an explanation to what specifically to accounting rules of the specification and MTU does not correspond this action, and will offer replacement. A system also monitors that, for example, the same car was not added to structure of different trains. When adding cars in the structure of UKP a system automatically makes calculation of length of the container train, summing up car parameter values - length on axes of automatic couplings – and makes comparison with value of length of UKP in conditional cars.

Thanks to the automatic mode of selection of cars for loading of UKP time of schedulers is substantially saved, and human errors are prevented. So, a system will select cars taking into account such parameters as the validity, parking term, date of repair, the owner, a residual run and others.

At automatic planning of loading on UKP the management system starts algorithms of optimization of placement of containers. For example, if it is more cars, than containers, a system monitors that containers were distributed on all giving evenly. If, on the contrary, cars are not enough, then the consolidation algorithm is started.

At floor planning of containers on cars a system gives a priority to loading of cars containers of one destination station.

Acceptance/sending a container with railway on the terminal

Information technologies substantially allow to accelerate and simplify acceptance of containers from the structures which arrived to the container terminal. Mobile Wi-Fi data collection terminals, character recognition system (OCR) is for this purpose used. At the same time the management system in the automatic mode will create works on unloading for the equipment, for example: for RTG, RMG or richstaker. At the same time a system according to rules of routing distributes works between participants of process.

For users of a system well special graphic application where all course of loading/unloading of cars in real is displayed in a schematical type

time. A system allows to display both a status of all railway front, and a status on separate branches (groups of the ways located on one railway front) and structures. It allows the manager to keep all process constantly under control and in time to react to incidents.

2017

In November, 2017 it became known of project finish of implementation of the information system "Intelligent Container Terminal" (further – ICT) developed by Solvo company based on Solvo.TOS on one of railway container terminals of PJSC TransContainer in Novosibirsk.

Technology project objective where Solvo acted as at the same time general contractor and the developer, implementation of the complete solution integrating all existing information systems used on the terminal was: an automated system of planning and management of operation of the container terminal, the workflow system, the system of recognition and registration of the entering and outgoing cargo flows and also the system of optimization of management of railway and automobile fronts. Specialists of Solvo designed and constructed network infrastructure, performed delivery and installation of the server hardware, mobile and video of the devices necessary for the system of recognition and control automation by Kleshchikh's terminal.

Within the project on ICT system implementation the Solvo company acted as the expert in design of the infrastructure systems.

Solvo performed works on delivery, installation and a commissioning of the infrastructure systems of the container terminal which allowed to provide with system implementation of management of ICT automation of basic processes on the container terminal.

In particular, were unrolled:

• System of data networks and wireless access;
• Video surveillance system;
• System of video recognition;
• Server complexes;
• The equipment Auto-ID – the manual and mounted in Wi-fi equipment cabins terminals for automatic identification and data collection from Honeywell company;
• Laying of fiber optic communication lines;
• Creation of nodes of kommutation.
• Efficiency of implementation

Thanks to ICT system implementation, it was already succeeded to achieve the following results:

• Reduce the average time of processing of cars by 3 times;

• Perform at least 90% loading of KP at its sending.