* Railways Research,Designs and Standards Organisation had envisaged use of SIMRAN through website and SMS,but actual mode is yet to be decided A GPS-based real-time passenger information system called SIMRAN,which Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said will be installed in trains this year,is still getting a final shape four years after it was first designed. A working group is busy to decide the final corrections in the equipment and also a plan of implementation. The Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (SIMRAN) system,which will enable the people to find the exact location of a running train,was developed by the Railways Research,Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) based in Lucknow,in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur. It was put to trials between 2007 and 2009 and the final testing was completed in September 2009. The RDSO had envisaged the use of SIMRAN through website and SMS,but the actual mode of use is yet to be decided. A decision as to who will manufacture the equipment is also yet to be taken. The working group wrestling with the issues consists of members from RDSO,IIT-Kanpur and the Railway Board. We have done all the testings of the device,but the nitty gritty of the things needs to be worked out, said V Ramachandran,Director General of RDSO. He said,More or less the device is ready. Once the final specifications of the device are prepared,which we are expecting will be done very soon,we will be floating the expression of interest from all parties which may want to manufacture the device,after which it should not take much time to implement it. SK Vyas,Executive Director (Telecom) at RDSO,who is looking after the project,said the working group,which was formed some four months back,was meeting regularly and we expect to finalise the details very soon. Explaining how the system works,Vyas said that a GPS device,designed in collaboration with IIT- K,is mounted on the trains loco. The device beams information about the exact location and the speed of the train. The information is transferred into the GPRS mode through a server and when a person demands the information,it can be passed via an SMS or some other mode, said Vyas. We had earlier projected that the system can be used to deliver the information via SMS or through our website,but the Railways already have their passenger inquiry system. So what should be the mode of integration of this information with that system is yet to be decided, he said.
