After igniting cashless push in the new year, it is time for safety push by Indian Railways.
In order to induce more safety, especially during the winters when fog can be dangerous, Indian Railways ordered GPS devices, which would be installed in 2700 trains, pan-India.
These GPS devices would be provided by ISRO.
2700 Trains To Be Equipped With GPS Devices
Northern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Nitin Chowdhary has confirmed that 2700 GPS devices have been ordered, which would be installed in trains for better navigation, and to handle fog seamlessly.
These GPS devices would be procured from ISRO.
He said,
“We have used the GPS technology in the device with a map of tracks, signals, stations and level crossing of the Northern Railway in it.”
As per Nitin, the availability of these devices, and the accurate maps of the level crossings, tracks and stations will help the engine driver to put up speed and cover the distance in shorter time, besides adding an extra layer of security.
More than 400 trains were delayed on 31st December, and around 500 trains have been cancelled, all over North India due to fog.
The installation of this device makes sense, especially when trains are only allowed to move at 60 km/hr in winters.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said yesterday:
“During winters a maximum speed limit of 60 km/hr is permissible. But it is up to the driver to decide the speed for the safety of passengers of the train..”
How Will This Work?
As per ANI reports, the device would be installed inside the driver’s cabin.
As the train will move on the tracks, the device will use the coordinates of Global Positioning System and inform the driver about the location of the next station, any incoming obstacle or signal in real time.
There shall be a digital display board and sensors which will immensely help the engine driver to handle any situation, whether it is fog or any other circumstances.
This new GPS based system will finally replace the existing national train enquiry system (NTES), in which the train controller manually updates the train’s position.
We wonder why this was not implemented earlier!
This new GPS enabled tracking system has already been installed in 6 engines running between New Delhi-Guwahati and New Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani routes.
As we had reported earlier, ISRO has been roped in to assist Indian Railways with satellite connectivity, and GPS enabled advanced systems for optimizing their decades-old signalling systems as well.
We will keep you updated as we receive more inputs.