On major trains, platforms soon: system on board to give time left for destination

The Railways plan to make available real-time information about the exact location, speed and estimated arrival time of all major Mail and Express trains at the click of a mouse. Moreover, LCD screens installed inside coaches will inform passengers about the distance and the estimated time the train will take to reach a destination.

Having successfully tested the Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (SIMRAN) system for almost all Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains over the past one year, the Railways Ministry plans to formally implement this system.

Developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and the Railways Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), Lucknow under the Technology Mission on Railway Safety, SIMRAN is a train-tracking system which uses Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) to collect and disseminate information about the location, speed and direction of trains.

A dedicated website, providing information on the movement of Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, has already been developed but is yet to be unveiled for public use. Currently, information is available with a time-lag of three minutes but the Railways claim that this can be brought down to less than a minute.

The RDSO, which has already submitted a detailed report on the trial of SIMRAN to the Ministry, has given the green signal. “Despite technological challenges, the system has been tested successfully and the results are satisfactory,” RDSO Executive Director M Alam told The Indian Express from Lucknow.

The train locator unit costs Rs 45,000 apiece but the price is likely to come down once mass production of the unit begins. Apart from uploading train movement information on the internet, the Railways plan to make it available on platforms on hi-definition coloured LED boards. Around 100 Category A and B stations are likely to have such boards in place by next March.