Reference no: EM131774235

OBJECTIVE:

The aim of this module is to develop practical and analytical understanding of the complex and multi-disciplinary nature of railways, and to provide students with an understanding of the economics of designing, building, maintaining and renewing them. It covers the theory and practice of permanent way design for railways, and includes the interfaces with other disciplines. Students will apply their learning to design work.

OUTCOMES:

1. Employ methods of analysis for railway economics.

2. Apply understanding of the key issues in operations and safety.

3. Evaluate the principles of maintenance and performance.

4. Apply industry standards in gauging and clearances design, including use of software, and demonstrate understanding of situations in which standards are not appropriate.

5. Demonstrate understanding of the contents and use of industry manuals of trackbed and drainage design.

Task 1:

Suppose that you are technical engineer in a railway company (trading, manufacturer, Vendor). You may be the owner of factory that has product line of one of railway track components such as fastening systems, Rail Joints, Sleeper (wooden, concrete, Steel, composite), welding system, machineries, .etc. In addition, you may have quarries for ballast and sub-ballast aggregates (formation layer) to produce suitable ballast aggregate for railway track.

For selling your products if you want to demonstrate and identify your productions or supply and provide the components, the client/buyer ask you to prepare a technical report involving all technical aspects to illustrate the capabilities and usage. So, Students are requested to prepare a technical report including:
- Product Description
- Design steps
- Technical specification
- Using and installing method
- Machinery with is needed to implement.
- Operation and Maintenance aspects
- Product illustration with sufficient and adequate pictures
- Cost of your products
- Condition and place of using (weather, max/min temperature, working restrictions)
- Other related things

For doing the project, you can select one of the track components arbitrarily and choose one company (real or virtual) through the world to use its technical data and information.

Please note that proper referencing and paraphrasing must be carried out when using a document as a reference for your work. It is necessary to cover most of feasible and probabilistic technical questions from client/buyer side in your report clearly.

In the end (conclusion part), make tabular information as far as possible in a glance for your mentioned production.

Task 2:

The Gulf region is growing rapidly. As part of Oman's national logistics' strategy and overall development direction, Oman intends to realize the value that its geographical position provides as a gateway to the Middle East, Africa and South West Asia. To do this, an inter- modal approach is being used, whereby the ports provide the access to sea lanes and the railway network the access into the Middle East and beyond. Oman has three deep water and two industrial ports, five international airports and over 2000km of planned rail network connecting these facilities and borders. Railway will support economic development, and enhance regional trade facilitation.

To illustrate the IMPORTANCE OF RAIL TRANSPOT in our national life, discuss the issue involved and explain the significance of the transport sector in the overall Oman economy?

Note: These are some more information where students still can propose after module leader approval.

Report Sections
The report regarding Task 1 should contain the following sections:
- Introduction
- Main body
- Conclusions
- References and contacts

1. Introduction (maximum 2 page)
- What is your product?
- Company history and information, establishing, capability, capacity,...
- Give the general plan of the report

2. Main body (maximum 10 page)
- Discuss the properties of products,
- Answer to the mentioned items above.
- Get the results and analysis if any.
- Headings should be informative and descriptive providing a clue to the contents of the section.
- Use suitable and accurate references for each paragraph that you take from others
- Each picture should have capture and a reference(s)

3. Conclusions (maximum 2 page)
- Synopsis
- State briefly, what the major specifications are and provide tabular data.

4. References
- List alphabetically your references which should include: Journal papers, proceedings, books, book chapters, internet sources etc.
- Students must refer to Student Handbook for refereeing method preferred in Middle East College.

5. Appendix
Any additional figures, tables, and photos.

6. Report Guideline:

- The size limit: the number of pages should be from 5 to 15 pages, additional pages can be used as appendix.
- Generally use 1.5 x line spacing unless advised. Text Font Number must be typed in your own words and computer typed using Times New Roman, Cambria, and Calibri font size 12.
- Heading should be with Font Size 14, Bold.
- Start with the title page including student name, ID number and Session as requested.
- It is generally better to place figures within the text rather than group them at the end of the report.
- Give a sequential number to all figures (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, etc.)
- Add a brief, informative caption to the figures.
- Give a sequential number to all tables (Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, etc.), with informative title.
- Use page numbers.
- Use Diagrams and Examples to explain your topic.

Rules & Regulations

- If any content or diagram of the assignment is found copied from the other students then marks will be deducted from both assignments.
- The purpose of assignment is to do some research work so you can consult books in Library or use internet or computer magazines or any other source.

- Proposal guideline for Task 1

- The proposal does not have to be lengthy but must adequately convey what the project will cover and what the deliverables will be. Consider this proposal as a one you would submit to get hired for an actual contract. Basically, the proposal should clearly tell the client what they will be getting if you are hired to do this work.

- The organization of a research proposal is usually very simple. It should have the following components:

- Summary: The abstract is a concisely written summary of the that includes the hypothesis statement, a brief discussion of background information, scope and objectives of the proposed work, methods to be used, expected results, and the study's significance.

1. Introduction: General description of the problem under consideration Clear statement of the research question or hypothesis to be addressed Clear statement of the research objectives General summary of the methods that will be used to achieve the objectives. The introduction begins with a general discussion of the topic area and then a statement of your specific hypothesis. The significance of the question(s) to be addressed and the impact the proposed work will have on these questions should be addressed. A short statement about how the rest of the proposal is organized is sometimes included in this section.

a. Background or Literature Review: Provide a thorough review of relevant information that has been done on the topic. This should include a summary and analysis of published literature and reports.

b. Objectives: This section describes what work will be done. Also, the goals and the objectives of the work to be performed may be described in this section.

2. Research Methods: Describe how the research will be conducted. Identify methods of collecting data. Provide diagrams of experimental equipment to be built. Identify analytical methods to be use (give references). Provide maps showing locations of field sampling stations. Develop the theory of modeling studies. Identify sources of information and numerical methods you will use to complete your study, including a complete explanation of the methods of data collection, experimental set-ups, analysis methods, and statistical tools that will be used to analyze the data. Include a detailed description of all of the major steps of the study, the assumption you will make, and the limitations of the methods you will use.

3. Expected Results: Include a detailed discussion of any calculations or experiments you have already completed, as well as what new results are expected from your proposed study in this section. Restate the significance of the proposed work here.

4. References: References should be presented using the same formatting style as will be used in the final project/thesis/dissertation.