New Delhi, December 16: The Indian Railways will now be able to track trains with the help of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) satellites. The Railways has installed a GPS-aided geo-augmented navigation system (GAGAN) devices on locomotives to ensure punctuality of trains and improve their efficiency. According to a government press release, a Real-time Train Information System (RTIS) is being installed on the locomotives for automatic acquisition of train movement data, including that of arrival, departure and run-through timings at the stations en route.

The RTIS project is being executed by Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS), an Information Technology arm of Ministry of Railways. RTIS also gives mid-section location updates, including the current speed of the train, with a periodicity of 30 seconds. The press release states that with the new process in place, the train controllers can now track the location and speed of RTIS enabled locomotives/trains more closely, without any manual intervention, facilitating the train control functions. Rail Drishti Dashboard Portal edrishti.cris.org.in Launched by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.

Here's How RTIS Device Works:

  1. The RTIS device has two units- one inside and the other one inside the locomotive

  2. It uses ISRO's GAGAN geo-positioning system to feed the data

  3. Loco pilots can send emergency messages to the control room with just a click of a button.

  4. The RTIS device shows current location and speed of the train, with a periodicity of 30 seconds

The Railways has collaborated with ISRO to improve the efficiency of the trains. The installation of the RTIS device have been completed in 2649 passenger and goods train locomotives till November 20, 2019. According to a report by Mint, the trials for this system have been done on New Delhi-Guwahati and New Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani trains on six electric locomotives in 2018. In the last month, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed that in Phase-I of the much-awaited RTIS project, the real-time tracking device have been installed in more than 2600 locomotives.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 16, 2019 04:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).