ISRO Shares Technology To Indian Railways For Train Timing Monitoring

Indian Railways is installing RTIS system on locomotives to enhance monitoring of train timings. This RTIS system has been  developed by ISRO.

Real-Time Train Information System (RTIS), formulated in partnership with ISRO, will be installed on locomotives and trains, according to Indian Railways, “for automatic acquisition of train movement time at the stations, particularly that of arrival and departure or run-through.”

Train Control will be able to more carefully monitor the whereabouts and acceleration of RTIS-enabled locomotives & trains thanks to the new system.

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They are automatically plotted on the Control Office Application (COA) system’s control chart for such trains. Mid-section updates are provided by RTIS every 30 seconds. 

According to a statement from the Ministry of Railways, “The Train Control can now track the location and speed of RTIS capable locomotives/trains more closely, without any manual intervention.

Phase I saw the installation of these devices in 2700 locomotives; phase II will see 6000 additional locomotives in 50 loco sheds covered.

In 21 electric locomotive sheds, RTIS equipment have been installed for 2700 locomotives. 

6000 additional locomotives spread over 50 loco sheds would be covered as part of Phase-II roll out by using ISRO’s satellite communications hub. 

Currently, the Control Office Application receives a direct GPS feed (RTIS and REMMLOT) from about 6500 locomotives (COA). 

Through the integration of COA and NTES, this has made autonomous train charting and real-time information transmission to passengers possible, according to the ministry statement.

The Ministry announced on Thursday that train stations are increasingly accepting digital payments for the purchase of meals from catering units. More than 8,878 of these units are already equipped with it.

Additionally, portable PoS devices are available in catering units to print printed invoices and bills that include all transactional information and answer complaints of overcharging. 

Currently, 596 trains have 3081 POS machines available to them. The ministry reported that POS equipment has been installed in 4316 static units.

Railways’ e-catering services are managed by IRCTC. When purchasing an electronic ticket or while traveling by rail, passengers can pre-order food of their choosing by using an app, phoning a call center, visiting a website, or dialing 1323.

Currently, 310 railway stations offer e-catering services via 1755 service providers plus 14 food aggregators, providing an average of 41,844 meals each day.