SOLVING THE LABOUR ISSUE

Bangladesh Railways do not have an Overhead Catenary System (OCS), so the team could not expect local support for two of the most labourintensive works – track work and OCS. The issues before them were that getting all the workmen from India was uneconomical, the deployment foreigners in the project was restricted and expats came at a high cost. The answer lay in a hybrid model of bringing only the vital members for these works from India, to work with local labour to start with and gradually increase the workload of the locals as their learned and trained on the job. “This worked perfectly as per plan and our productivity set new benchmarks,” smiles Sunil.

ENSURING THE RIGHT KIND OF PARTNERS

Another challenge was that none of the equipment manufacturers were on board at an early date. Secondly, the civil and rolling stock contracts had been awarded to them much earlier and hence their works were in an advanced stage. “The interfacing contractors were thus expecting instant solutions from us,” Ashish points out, “however, our technical experts with their inherent knowledge of the subsystems did a pretty good job to provide information on time, and the employer too was satisfied with the rapid pace of involvement in the project.” Ravi was given additional responsibilities as an Interface Manager, handling the key access and design interface for Track, OCS, Power Supply, Signalling, Telecom, Lift & Escalator, Automatic Fare Collection and Platform Screen Doors. “We addressed our issues through clear and structured communication, which helped us to get early access to the viaduct and stations,” he says.

COVID-19 DISRUPTIONS

A 66-day lockdown of the country disrupted road, air and sea connectivity. Labour shortage and widespread infections forced the team to reassess and recalibrate their project plans according to the new COVID protocols, by adopting mitigation measures like setting up quarantine centres, improving the medical facilities and enforcing stricter working norms. Ashish feels that the project stood up very well to the test, with the team even guiding their partners in the process. “We closely co-ordinated with our civil contractors for access, putting across sequential priority-wise requirements for the viaduct and stations.” By sub-structuring their work plans, and making excellent use of the available resources, the team has good progress to show.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROJECT

THE BENEFITS OF THE PANDEMIC

The adoption of virtual inspections has been a huge beneficial fallout of the pandemic for projects across the organization: they reduce travel costs and time, can be scheduled at short notice, ensure timely completion and, most importantly, without compromising on testing or quality. Some major virtual inspections conducted with foreign suppliers include for the Energy Storage System (ESS) with M/s Toshiba, Japan, which lasted over 5 days; for Cantilevers and ATDs with M/s Sanwa Tekki, Japan; for OCS masts/portals with M/s Valmont; for Control Cables with M/s Universal Cables, India; and for OPC suspension and strain clamps with M/s Mosdorfer. Section In-charge Mayil Rajkumar S specially mentions the critical TSS commissioning that had to be conducted using a HD webcam since the Secheron supervision team could not travel from Geneva (Switzerland) and India.

As Sunil, Ashish, Ravi and their team push forward to complete this challenging project, Mayil Rajkumar nicely articulates the team’s approach: Dream big, stay positive, work hard and enjoy the journey!

WORK FAST-FORWARDING AT THE
CORE EPC 7 PROJECT

The CORE EPC 7 project awarded by the Railway Electrification Project, Chennai, commenced contractually on 1^st June 2020 at the height of the COVID wave, forcing the team to realign their execution plans. Their first step was to develop a 3-month ‘Look Ahead’ plan that sharply focused on progress and invoicing. “Our execution strategy involved a target of 50 foundations a day,” spells out Chief Project Manager Venkatesh M Nagabhushan, “opening multiple fronts for each activity to stretch our capabilities and sweat our P&M assets, helping us erect 100 masts at a stretch on several days.” While SWOT and cost-benefit analyses helped them stay ahead of delivery schedules, they closely monitored project progress vis-à-vis baseline planned in TILOS to review and resolve project constraints. “We had special drives like Mission 50×50 and Mission 75×75 (number of foundations per day × number of days at a stretch), concentrated on minimising indirect costs with speedy execution, dynamic shifting of specialized resources as per plans and creation of a central team that is responsible for allocating key resources including material planning and inventory management,” elaborates Venkatesh.

All this pre-planning, however, did not prepare the team for the pandemicinduced disruptions. Lack of labour, breakdown of the supply chains, lack of industrial oxygen, heavy monsoons and infections impacted progress in a big way. To address them the team acted quickly and decisively. Labour was airlifted to meet critical milestones, and the team put in their efforts to complete activities like OHE foundation before the onset of the monsoon.

MAJOR MILESTONES ACHIEVED

The team has successfully completed CRS Inspection of 312.1 TKM out of 1137 as on Dec 2021 and is targeting to commission a further 402 TKM by Q4 of FY 2022–23. Out of eight groups, three (Gr. 272, Gr. 271 B and Gr. 274) have been commissioned and handed over to the customer. In fact, the 215 TKM Gr. 272 (Cuddalore–Vriddhachalam– Salem) was commissioned within 18 months, winning the client’s appreciation. Nearly 40% of the substation work, which includes erection of 12 transformers out of the total scope of 16, is over, and nearly 35% of Signalling and Telecommunication works have been commissioned and handed over to the Railways for train operations.

“Our principle of First Time Right is what has helped us achieve so much progress,” shares Naresh Bandaru, Project Manager P2, “which has avoided rework and saved time and costs.” Citing some examples, Pawan Verma, Project Manager P1, shares that the brackets were fabricated only after grouting and based on measurements from site. They followed a stringent grouting procedure to ensure cantilever erection without adopter fitting at permitted locations. SED is prepared only after grouting measurement and cantilevers are fabricated with utmost accuracy, while quality checks are conducted by the site engineers before the cantilever is shifted from the fabrication yard. The procedures have reduced adjustment time and saved precious traffic block time during Tower Checking.

CENTRAL TEAM FOR CRUCIAL ACTIVITIES

From the start, a central team was formed with specialized skillsets to manage activities such as central fabrication for structural steel works like height gauges, fencing panels, protective screens, etc. There is a central OHE team for wiring and power block works and another for PSI and P-Way works. These teams are used across sections, based on work requirements and scheduled planning, which has translated into significant cost savings and avoided idling of specialized resources.

Often it is the team that makes all the difference, and Venkatesh and his young, energetic team, ably directed by Akula S Phanendra Kumar, have been instrumental in implementing First time right principles in the project to speedily push the project towards completion by 18^th February 2023.