Round Table on BAMP was held on 5th July 2014 at The Institution of Engineers (India) at Mumbai. It was attended by representatives from ISSE, IIBE, IASE and Mumbai/ Maharashtra chapters of IGS, ICI. Members from ADG (MoD) and experts in Bridge Engineering also attended.
The meet started with a presentation of Bridge Asset Management Program (BAMP) as evolved by Asset Management Technologies. BAMP Summary is attached herewith for your kind perusal. The presentation was given by Sachin Joshi.
It was followed by a interactive session where in various members of the meet queried on various aspects of the BAMP system. It was decided that a representation to the Honourable Minister of Transport, Respected Shri Nitin Gadkari, Government of India, New Delhi should be made to impress on the Minister the need to implement BAMP in India.
The meet discussed the best way forward in the given scenario and concrete proposals were discussed by the meet to ensure speedy implementation of BAMP in India.
Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, Government of India has completed the procedure to put in place Indian Bridge Management System (IBMS) and Team IDDC is proud to Develop and Implement this system for National Highways. Starting July 2015 we shall put in place the IBMS software; which is being developed by our associates M/s Primera Software Solutions Inc of USA and the entire system is being reviewed by M/s Stantec Inc of Canada.
Team IDDC shall develop the manual for IRC SP 35, develop the whole IBMS system and implement the same for a period of three years. National Bridge Management Center (NBMC) is being set up at NOIDA within Indian Academy for Highway Engineers (IAHE).
Team IDDC is headed by me and assisted by Harshad and a team of 15 technical personals. They shall provide inventory tools to over 18 consulting firms being appointed by MORTH and these consultant shall collect all data essential to create a inventory of all bridges on National Highways. The classification procedure and automated essential inspection and testing system shall be generated by IBMA software, which shall activate inspection intervention through the same field consultants. Based on their testing and status report, decision making module of the IBMS shall generate a list of bridges needing rehabilitation/ strengthening intervention based on socio-economic and technical criterion.
The entire process is to be repeated for three times to create sufficient data to then create and model various deterioration models and also fine tune the ranking and priority modules of IBMS.
Team IDDC will also assist IAHE to enhance skill development for bridge engineers to make them competent to handle IBMS in various states of the country. About 20 states could start the process in the next three years.
Welcoming over 80 delegates from the fraternity, State PWD , NHAI, IAHE and HOTA ; Director General S. N. Das highlighted the need for all Team IBMS members to contribute to the success of IBMS project undertaken on such a massive scale with a Bridge Management system developed from scratch in India.
Chief Engineer Mr. Nirmal explained the high-points of IBMS and urged every one to give their best to ensure Inventory of all bridges is completed in shortest time possible.
Sachin Joshi explained the entire system which has been under development for the past many years and the software for the same was explained by Nagaraju Naga. Many of the consultants appointed for field work have some suggestions and the same shall be taken up in the next update as deemed essential based on the veracity of the requirements. Harshad Toraskar Bridge Engineer leads the team of young engineers in IDDC to cater to the needs of all field consultants.
With the conference yesterday, A. K. Pandey, SE, S & R (B) announced the start of actual field work. He also highlighted the entire scope of work of the project.
IBMS now moves onto creation of server interface to enable analysis and management of collected data.
Three cheers and a warm welcome to the new members of Team IBMS.
17 participating consulting companies ensured that IBMS is 10000+ and counting. Today we breached the 10000 mark and we aim to be the largest data base of Bridges in the world. My Congrats to all participating consultants for their active support and cooperation. Inventory for bridges in State of Uttarakhand is complete and soon we shall complete the inventory for the state of Haryana.
We shall now focus to strengthen the next citadel that looms on us. We are working with over 36 experts from industry/ fraternity along with participating consultants to compile a set of specifications for Repair, Rehabilitation and Strengthening of Bridges in India. This document is being compiled under the auspice of Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways GOI. Presently such a document does not exist and it is our endeavor to compile this before the start of next phase of IBMS. Again my thanks to all participating experts and consultant.
IBMS is truly an endeavor of the Bridge Engineering fraternity and we are fortunate to be leading the show to establish this system.
Indian Bridge Management System (IBMS) is the today the largest database of bridges with inventory of over 50000+ (and counting) bridges on National highways of India. Over 300 Engineers from 17 Consultants offices were trained for compiling the inventory of the bridges.
All this activities took place before actual field work started on 16th October 2015. One consultant worked at field to submit data for 100 records which was the trial period, during which glitches were observed and rectified and actual field work started from November 2015. During this time, our office ensured that most of field engineers were trained and taught the inventory and rating system of IBMS and to use the Tablet software.
When the actual field work started, work flow was smooth and soon we were receiving about 1200 inventory entries on daily basis. Each inventory record was checked at IBMS office for the authenticity and completeness of the data. Having ensured that the data is recorded only on National highway and is complete in all respect, it is accepted by a small team of 8 dedicated Engineers who at time worked over 55 hours weekly.
On the back end, the software team is working on further development of analysis and reporting modules of IBMS server, Statistical analysis of Bridge data as per states as per NH number etc is now available at the click of mouse and can be presented within few seconds. Work on Inspection cycle of the development is now in progress. Soon we shall be able to generate reports for ranking and priority of bridges for inspection and rehabilitation. Simultaneously efforts are ongoing to evolve common specifications for over 100 items of work for rehabilitation projects so that they are in place in time when rehabilitation work starts on the first bridge.
IBMS is evolving a Certified Bridge Inspectors Course in association with Indian Academy of Highway Engineers to ensure that properly trained Engineers are available to continue the work of Field inspection and Inventory work.
Indian Bridge Engineers should be proud today for their achievements as a fraternity. Kudos to all 18 consultants, members of Ministry of Road Highway & Transport S & R Bridge division who ensured that work progresses smoothly under continuous monitoring of Minister and Director General of MoRTH.
Launching Setu Bharatam at Vidyan Bhawan on 4th March 2016 at 09.30 hrs first the Transport minister Shri Nitin Gadkari ji explained the concept of IBMS and later during the launch PM Modi applauded the system and explained what type of analysis of data is now possible and that soon IBMS shall be the largest Bridge Data base in the world.
IBMS is a totally Make in India- Digital India initiative, which supports Skill India program by training over 200 Engineers to conduct field studies for completing the field work.
Indian Bridge Management System was launched on 4th October 2016 during the opening ceremony of IBMS 2016- 1st Biennial Conference on Bridge Management held at NDMC Convention Center, New Delhi. Over 250 delegates attended this function and the conference.
20 Technical papers were presented on various aspects of Bridge Management System. 4 authors from UK, USA, Singapore came to make their presentations. 2 papers were reserved for student category and the same were presented by students from IIT(B) and IIT (Gawahati)
IBMS is the largest platform in the world and has data for over 120,000 bridges and still growing. Having the largest database, Indian Bridge Management System aims to conduct a biennial Conference every two years. The second Biennial conference will be held in 2018 and will aim to have focus only on Bridge Management.
This is one of the first recognition that has come from a third party. We are great full to the Ministry for empowering us to do the project and all staff of S & R (Bridge) zone of the Ministry, All ADG, Chief Engineers and Regional Officers of MORTH along with all 18 field consultants who made this possible.
Today IBMS 2018 Conveyor Shri Sitaram Sagi Raju signed an MOU with Taj Krishna to host the upcoming conference IBMS 2018 from 22nd October to 26th October 2018. The venue offers an unique advantage of holding an exhibition along with the Conference. Something which we could not do at NDMC for IBMS 2016. The venue has a capacity of about 500 for the main technical sessions and about 150 for Parallel sessions. IBMS 2018 website (www.inidanbms.org) is fully functional. So is our Twitter handle @sachinibms also provides instant updates of events as they happen in the run-up towards IBMS2018
IBMS 2018 is now supported and promoted by Ministry of Tourism Government of Telengana through Hyderabad Convention Visitors Bureau (HCVB). Their supports make it possible for IBMS 2018 to reach a wider audience world over.
With the venue now frozen, the focus of our Organization now shifts to enabling quality technical papers. Papers can be submitted online on our website and so can sponsors and delegates register for the event online. Being an digital initiative IBMS 2018 conference promises to be zero paper conference where all things will be managed online.
On 28th April 2017, Chief Engineer Bridges (S & R) MoRTH had invited all Chief Engineers(NH) from all over the country to a meeting to discuss various issues related to implementation of Setu Bharatam.
We were given a time slot to introduce IBMS to all the attendees. We made a presentation on the Bridge Management System and its decision making capabilities. We also exposed the all the CE(NH) to the various data mining scenarios and how such huge data base of 152,000 structures can assist them in planning and internal decision making during the course of working.
IBMS also showed to the CE(NH) the pictorial video of the most distressed bridges in each state. We made an urgent plea to the CE(NH) to ensure that all 18 consultants commence the testing of distressed bridges in their respective states in the next few weeks to enable the repair work start in next season.
IBMS will thus see the rehabilitation of bridges commence sooner. This will bring more responsibility on our team and to ensure that we have the best practices, Team IBMS is working with Indian Road Congress to establish guidelines for repairs and rehabilitation of bridges.
On 30th June 2017, Hon. Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari took a review of the working of IBMS. He proudly informed that the database of all structures on National Highways is over 160,000 and that IBMS has now identified the distress in structures and it is time to ensure that we move ahead and compete the testing of these identified structures.
He also suggested that it is time to inform all state PWD ministers to implement bridge management using the IBMS platform. He was critical about the delay being caused due to procedures and that he suggested that we should be more proactive and move ahead. He also suggested use of new technologies in Health monitoring systems and inspections. Pilot projects for health monitoring should be taken up on priority and then 3 to 4 bridges on congested corridors which witness heavy OWC movement should be undertaken for health monitoring.
Hon Minister suggested that the fast, cost effective and innovative technologies should be encouraged in Bridge Rehabilitation and construction. He stressed the need to involve research experts from advance countries like USA, Europe and Australia by inviting them to India and then have interactive discussion relating their expertise. IBMS 2018 shall undertake this theme. COST ACTION from Europe has agreed to depute delegation to IBMS 2018 and an interactive session with IRC.
Speaking to press post the review he mentioned about IBMS which was published in Financial Express.
Hon. Minister Shir Nitin Gadkari was to reply to questions on IBMS in Lok Shabha. On 27th June 2017 Hon Minister Nitin Gadkari in reply to questions on IBMS replied that Due to development and implementation of IBMS the Ministry is able to confirm that as per inventory figure that National Highways have more than 162,000 bridges and culverts. He also informed that IBMS is the largest database of bridges and that based on the completion of first cycle of inventory and two cycles of inspection, over 147 bridges have been identified as having distress and need further attention.
Hon Minister also informed that immediate attention shall be paid by the Ministry to these bridges and officers shall have to be vigilant to ensure no loss of life occurs during monsoon due to failure of any bridges.
He further emphasized that new technologies are being encouraged to make inspection of bridges more reliable and authentic. He also mentioned about the need to have bridge health monitoring systems, use of drones, nano technology and similar technologies when bridge inspection or rehabilitation takes place.
Where does this lead to?? Bridge testing, inspection agencies will now work overtime to ensure that these identified bridges are properly inspected and remedial measures defined. Rehabilitation of Bridges will be taken up in the coming season and that will lead to a continuous cycle of this happening every year till all bridges on National Highways are rendered safe. Finally that is the goal of IBMS: Protecting Indian Bridges
On 3rdNovember 2017 IBMS Operation Team Leader Saurabh Chaturvedi and Asst Bridge Engineer Nagaraju Naga provided an insight into IBMS to Delegates from African countries during their 3 weeks training at Indian Academy of Highway Engineers, Noida
On 5thNovember 2017 IBMS research Team Leader Sachin Joshi presented the Findings of IBMS study on National Highway Network at Indian Road Congress Conference was well received and appreciated by many.
On 15thNovember 2017 IBMS presentation at Steel Day Celebration in Mumbai where IBMS Team Learder Sachin Joshi brought out the importance of Socio Economic parameter in IBMS to prevent tragedies like the recent Elphinstone bridge stampede.
On 24th November, IBMS was presented to the delegates of Reconnecting India conference held at India Habitat Center, New Delhi. We elaborated on innovative technologies being adopted with IBMS and also shared the futuristic journey of IBMS that could involve online application of SHM and also BIM to convert IBMS into a predictive platform for bridge management.
On 25th November, Indian Chapter of American Concrete Institute organized a conference. Team IBMS was solidly represented by Sachin Joshi and supported by Naga Nagaraju, Rajesh Unnam and Kirankumar Tumati. We presented the entire flow from testing to identification of cause of distress and definition of remedial measures. All four papers were well received.
IBMS findings initiated the proceedings of the two day seminar at Jaipur. Presentation attracted a very good interactive interaction. The process and logical protocol to be used from inventory data to definition of MRSR module was presented. Appreciated by the delegates for the detailing in the logic. Such deliberately interactive session and presentation only help to sustain IBMS project.