#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The fiber optic length is 80 kilometers. The work began in June and is scheduled to be completed by November. The mobile cable-laying machine has already covered 11 kilometers of the route and approached the Yubileinaya station.
The Nornickel’s first project to lay FOCL from Novy Urengoy to Norilsk covered a section of 956 kilometers in length. The laying of the first communication line cost 2.5 billion rubles.
The new project is also important for the company. Indeed, until today, the Technological Railway Transport Enterprise (the Norilsk Railway enterprise) was connected with the Nornickel’s important strategic subdivision – the Polar Transport Branch in the Dudinka port and between stations and remote posts using a not very reliable copper cable.
“These cables were laid back in the 1970s and 1980s. The permafrost heaves lead to the railway track, and copper cables often fail, their electrical characteristics deteriorate”, explains Vyacheslav Russu, deputy chief engineer – head of the Norilsk Railways’ signaling and communication service. “This entails the risk of disruption to the operation of railway transport control due to failures in the control signals transmission in microprocessor-based train control systems“.
The Yubileinaya station, to which the cable-layer approached, has always been an important link in the technological chain of the Polar Division. It handles cargo for the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant. At least a hundred wagons pass through the station per day.
Now, in connection with the Sulfur Program implementation, the role of the station is increasing. New tracks built by railway workers will connect Yubileinaya with the Mokulaevskoye field, where limestone will be mined for the utilization of sulfur dioxide. In addition, a new fiber optic for an investment project is very useful.
“There should be traffic to Nadezhda, where the limestone will be transported”, says Vyacheslav Russu. “Many stations will be involved, which require re-equipment of automation to ensure a freight traffic of millions of tons. The traffic will rely on the new fiber-optic communication line. Dispatcher monitoring is incorporated in the project: information from all stations should converge at the dispatcher of the production department of the Norilsk Railways, including from the Yubileinaya station”.
With the transition to fiber-optic communication, the reliability of the connection between the stations will increase, which will eliminate errors in the automation systems operation and the likelihood of accidents. The Polar Division will have its own communication channel (it has been rented so far), which will meet the needs of all Nornickel enterprises in the Norilsk industrial area.
The equipment included in the fiber line project provides a backup power supply for up to eight hours in the event of a main power outage. This will ensure uninterrupted operation of the fiber-optic communication line.
Funding for the project is 90 million rubles.
Recall that in 2017, for a large-scale project of high-speed Internet in Norilsk, Nornickel was awarded the Eventiada IPRA GWA international competition for communication projects for winning the Best Integrated Project nomination with the wording A leap Into The Digital Age, and also received an award from Snob magazine.
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Text: Tatiana Rychkova, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko
