The Need
February 2, 2014, ushered in an era of word-class travel for Mumbai's commuters
with Phase I of Mumbai Monorail being thrown open to the public, after it was inaugurated
by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan the previous day. It enjoys the
distinction of being the first monorail project in independent India since the Kudala
Valley Railway and Patiala State Monorail Train ways were closed in the late 1920s.
Handling patrons efficiently while providing comfort and safety, the Metro
operators today require to overcome the challenges faced in legacy systems in the
area of revenue accounting arising out of fraudulent acts by passengers and some
staff in different areas of operation.The Mumbai Monorail has addressed these challenges
by implementing the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) system supplied by C&A.
Considering the implementation challenges at Monorail project, the execution was
planned in 2 phases. While Phase-I connects Chembur with Wadala which includes 7
stations and a depot, the Phase-II connects Wadala with Gadge Maharaj Chowk which
includes the remaining 10 stations. The monorail system along Chembur-Wadala and
Wadala-Sant. Gadge Maharaj Chowk corridors has been designed for a ridership of
6000 and 10500 PHPDT in the year 2041 respectively.
Need & Objectives of AFC:
- Prevent revenue leakage
- Flexibility for implementation of fare schemes
- O&M convenience
- Customer convenience
- Flexibility for Implementation of inter-modal transportation in future
Project Scope:
The project's scope included design, supply, installation & commissioning and maintenance
support of the AFC system comprising:
- Supply of Automatic Gates, Ticket Vending Machines, Ticket Readers, Portable Ticket
Decoders, Station & Central Servers and clients machines and
- Services like identification & implementation of Business Rules, Fare Media Layouts,
MMI finalization, System Availability and provision for future Interoperability;
Interface co-ordination with third party systems; Quality Assurance comprising Software
Verification & Validation and IP testing of equipment like TVM & TRs, Testing including
FAT at vendor's works, Integrated FAT, Partial Acceptance Test (PAT) at Station
for Station level equipment and Site Acceptance Test (SAT) with Operation Control
Centre (OCC) integrating all stations.
In line with the design requirements, each typical station is equipped with minimum
8 numbers of Automatic Gates (AG), 2 numbers of Ticket Office Machine (TOM), 1 Ticket
Vending Machine (TVM), 2 numbers of Ticket Readers (TR), 1 Station Computer System
and 3 numbers of Portable Ticket Decoders (PTD) which are monitored and controlled
by a Central Computer System at the Wadala Depot.
The ticketing solution is implemented with two-tier architecture design with an
in-built capability of station hardware like AGs and TRs communicating directly
with Central Server in the event of Station Server failure. Contactless smart cards
and tokens are used as ticket instruments. The same can be bought manually from
Ticket Office or TVM.
Tokens are meant to be used for single trip/journey and return trips for occasional
users whereas Cards can be used by regular patrons for various options like:
- Electronic/Stored Value Purse (e-Purse)
- Trip Pass (with the options like 10/30/50, etc)
- Tourist Pass
- Period Pass (i.e. Weekly, Monthly Pass, etc)
- Holiday Pass
The proposed system comprises the following key sub-systems:
Automatic Gates: Controlled patron passages located at each station in the form
of arrays, which will separate the Paid and Unpaid areas at station concourse level.
These gate arrays include the following types:
- Entry Gate
- Exit Gate
- Reversible Gate and
- Wide Reversible/Luggage Gate
Ticket Vending Machines designed for the issuance of Token(s) and reload Smart Card.
Ticket Office Machines: Manual ticketing counters, featured with issuance of Token(s)
& Smart Card, Reload, Refund, Cancel and Gate Rejection Analysis operations.
Ticket Readers: Remaining value check terminals located both, in paid and unpaid
areas, to help patrons to know about the existing value and validity of Fare Media.
Portable Ticket Decoders: Handheld terminals used by the roving ticket checkers.
It can also be used as secondary Ticket Office Machines to handle the increasing
traffic at stations during peak hours.
Station Computer Systems: Located at each station to control and monitor the respective
station level equipment and also act as a bridge between Central Computer and Station
Level Equipment.
Central Computer System: Located at Depot premises and is featured with Administrative,
Control and Monitoring functions.
System Features
- Direct communication between Station Level Equipment and Central System in the event
of station server failure
- In-built feature to depict acceptable bank note and coins to the patrons for the
ongoing transaction in TVM.
- Planning and optimization of O&M services
- Flexible pricing schemes via Fare Tables
- RFID based counterfeit prevention
- Real Time Monitoring and Audit trail
Benefits:
- Prevents Revenue leakage
- Improves operational efficiency
- Increases customer convenience
- Enhances safety
- Upgrade capable to handle multi-modal transport and common mobility
System Architecture: