Indian Rlys test-trials 3 Efftronics' technologies

Indian Railways has successfully put into test-trial three technologies supplied by Vijayawada-based Efftronics Systems Private Limited. The company is into embedded systems, application software and systems integration.

Two of the technologies "" solid state block instrument and global position system (GPS) "" are awaiting certification from experts of Jadavpur University, and the third technology, light emitting diodes (LED) based signal lamps, is in the final stages of verification by the Research Design Standards Organisation (RDSO) of the Indian Railways.

Efftronics hopes to get an initial order worth at least Rs 10 crore once these formalities are over.

Considering that about 7,000 stations operate hundreds of trains in the country and that every station requires the above three technologies, Indian Railways is likely to emerge as the biggest customer for Efftronics, promising assured and bulk business for the company in the years to come.

Indian Railways has already been using the data logger networks and display systems of Efftronics. The State Road Transport Corporation (RTC) and the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service recently adopted its GPS-multiple display board systems for managing and tracking their fleet in a number of depots (through SMS) and boats (through modems) respectively.

Efftronics managing director D Rama Krishna told Business Standard that the company had already received orders worth Rs 10 crore this fiscal from old and new customers. It would easily cross Rs 20-crore business by March next year, he added.

Solid state block instruments perfectly control the arrival and departure of any number of trains at a time. The railways still depends on obsolete electro-mechanical equipment. A switch-over to solid state block instrument assures the highest Safety Integrity Level "" 4 (SIL). Three parallel functioning computers take part in decision-taking. Every station requires two systems, each of which might be priced around Rs 5 lakh," he said. This, he hoped, would help the firm snatch continuous and bulk orders from the railways.

"Each railway station also requires at least 50-100 LED signal lamps, each likely to be priced at Rs 5,000. These lamps, conforming to BS1376-CIE standards, have 10 years warranty, and would replace the present incandescent lights with 1,000 hours life only," he said.

According to Rama Krishna, the demand for global position system would also be high.

"The system has been successfully employed for the benefit of passengers in the Shatabdi Express run between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The system comprises a GPS receiver and multiple display boards. It is a station arrival indication system and displays the information about the name of the next station, its distance, and time for reaching that station for passengers and helps them prepare for disembarking well in advance. It also enables the railway staff to manage and track trains."

Rama Krishna said Efftronics had also developed Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA), which enables one person to man the entire station from a single place.

"This technology, which is yet to be put to trial, can be employed in big plants also. The company would soon introduce in the market radio frequency identity cards (RFID)."

Rama Krishna said that his firm is now competing with five multinational companies in these technologies. Efftronics' technologies, according to Rama Krishna, meets international standards, particularly European standard CENELEC.