South Central Railway to introduce GPS to track train's location
Currently, the testing phase of the real-time information system for trains on the South Central Railway (SCR) will be going live across the zone soon. It is said to be improving the accuracy of the information, from the national train enquiry system regarding departure and arrival times for trains.
It is said that the real-time information system (RTIS) works on the basis of a device that is installed in the locomotives of trains through which the information will be passed by satellite communications and GPS.
The spokesperson of SCR, Ch Rakesh had said, "On South Central Railway, 186 locomotives have already been upgraded with RTIS and the balance will be completed shortly."
SCR is committed to leverage the Information Technology to provide customer-friendly service delivery mechanisms towards qualitatively enhancing the passengers' experience on Railways. The current position of the running of trains is an important data input that needs to be conveyed on real-time basis to the passengers on platforms. SCR has taken a step forward in this direction with the establishment of a modern, high-end LED passenger information display system on the platforms at all MMTS stations in the twin cities.
An official press release on the SCR website read: "As hundreds of passengers gather at a time on platforms to board trains during peak hours, it will practically be difficult to satisfy their enquiry needs through manual counters. To handle such a situation, universal train information display boards have been provided in a big way at all major stations on SCR."
To keep suburban passengers' needs in mind, the SCR said it is going to provide real-time information. The press release said, "keeping in view the needs of the suburban commuters on MMTS system, advanced LED display monitors, which provide real-time passenger related information, have been set up recently on outsourcing basis. The architecture of this system is designed based on Global Positioning System (GPS) and General Packet Radio System (GPRS) technologies."