Vyacheslav Dmitriev, Chief Engineer of the Kuibyshevskaya Railway
- In November, a series of railway innovation forums called IRON ROAD SHOW was started by the Kuibyshevskaya Railway for railway operators in the region. What is the Kuibyshevskaya Railway pursuing? - The IRON ROAD SHOW Innovation Forum is a joint program of the Kuibyshevskaya Railway and the YellowRockets Coworking Cente which searches for innovative projects and start-ups suitable for immediate implementation in the infrastructure of Russian Railways. The forum program includes presentation sessions, start-up weekends, and consulting and pilot projects. New companies are invited to present their ready-to-implement projects and technical innovations. Events will be held in major cities in the regions serviced by the railway through July, 2020. The first events have already taken place in Samara, Ulyanovsk, Penza, Naberezhnye Chelny and Ufa. “What are the criteria for selecting innovations?” We open doors for the testing of innovative technologies at the Innovation Forum. The Kuibyshevskaya Railway has asked for projects which will enhance and improve upon the long-term development program of JSC Russian Railways. Their developers of these projects will receive advice on the possibilities of introducing the product into the technological chain of the Kuibyshevskaya Railway in addition to assistance in drawing up a feasibility study. Furthermore, experimental testing of innovative solutions will be carried out at the proving grounds.
After the technical and commercial viability of a project is assessed, the Central Working Group on the implementation of start-up projects with innovative solutions at Russian Railways will determine the suitability for implementation in the entire network, a contract will be signed with the company. There are several criteria for selecting a project of innovation. First, the proposed product or solution should be unique, i.e. offer methods, techniques, and technologies that were not previously used in the company. Second, the project must fit with the long-term development program of Russian Railways and meet modern technology development trends. Third, tangible economic benefits of implementation must be demonstrated. Finally, the innovation or project must be implementable on the railway network.
- Have any of the proposed innovative solutions and projects been tested in Kuibyshevskaya Railway? - Four pilot projects were completed and assessed by experts. One of these pilot projects was the “use of a current and voltage integrator in the operation of electrical equipment at the Kinel station hump yard”, implemented jointly with Industrial Energy Service Technologies LLC. As a result of the operation of the integrator, a decrease in electricity consumption by 13.9% was recorded due to the zeroing of reactive energy and a decrease in the declared power of the equipment. Augmented reality technologies were also tested during the current repair of the vacuum circuit breaker of the transformer substation and during the verification of voltage transformers. The results demonstrate that AR technologies can significantly accelerate the learning process of young professionals and reduce the number of cases of work-related injuries.