The Indian Railways have begun a shift to satellite positioning to enable realtime tracking of thousands of trains across its massive network. 2700 locomotives, mainly used for passenger trains, are expected to be equipped with this system while the rollout is underway.
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The new system, called Real-Time Train Information System (RTIS), has been integrated with the National Train Enquiry Service...
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(NTES) and will thus provide passengers with accurate time of arrival data.
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With RTIS, train movement will be automatically tracked and information fed to IR’s systems. ISRO’s own GAGAN satellites are used to generate accurate positioning information instead of the US owned Global Positioning System (GPS), widely used by consumer and industrial applications across the world.
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The RTIS Loco Device comprises of an Indoor Unit, installed in loco cabin, and an Outdoor Unit installed on the loco roof-top.
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The Loco Device is equipped with India’s homegrown GAGAN based geo-positioning system, akin to the US managed Global Positioning System (GPS), to determine the location & speed of the locomotive.
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A Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) based satellite communication system is being used for transmission of loco position to Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) data centre in New Delhi. Data will be transmitted via ISRO’s GSAT-6 geostationary satellite located at 83 degrees East.
CRIS will process and forward this data to the Control Office Application (COA) server in respective divisions.
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RTIS loco device utilises an Intel Atom processor and adequate memory & Solid-State Drive (SSD).
RTIS outdoor unit constitutes of Transmit/Receive electronics and patch antennae for all transmitters/receivers.
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How RTIS will streamline operations:
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Automatic plotting of control charts including mid-section plotting and end-to-end speed profile
Real-time tracking of locomotives
Emergency messaging from Loco Pilot to Control Room
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Accurate train running information leads to optimum crew booking & reduction in pre-departure detention (PDD)
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Punctuality Monitoring
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Accurate real-time Passenger information
Web-based access for real-time loco tracking provided to loco sheds & zonal railways
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At present 21 electric loco sheds in IR has brought under satellite monitoring including loco sheds at Howrah and Asansol in ER system. All locomotives are likely to be covered by RTIS by 2020.
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Initially all coaching trains in Delhi-Mumbai (CSMT), Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Howrah, Howrah-Chennai and Mumbai- Howrah routes are provided with such RTIS device. This will gradually be extended to all passenger and goods trains.