Indian Railways is harnessing the power of data analytics for integrated transport. It has initiated a project which will now enable real time tracking of train movements with the help of satellite imagery under the Real Time Train Information System (RTIS) project. DK Singh, Managing Director, Center for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), said that CRIS has collaborated with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for live tracking to help railways run trains efficiently.
Mr. Singh, along with Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnab, spoke on the sidelines of a conference on ‘Reshaping Indian Railways: Harnessing the Power of Data Analytics for Integrated Transport’ here on March 3.
Mr. Singh said ISRO has developed its own regional navigation satellite system called Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) and Bhuban, a web-based utility that allows users to explore a set of map-based content deployed for tracking. “We have taken bandwidth from ISRO and integrated our systems with NavIC and Bhuvan. Each locomotive is fitted with a device and SIM, which communicates the actual location of the train to satellites and receives feedback. The movement is updated every three seconds,” said Mr. Singh.
Real time tracking of trains is also useful during accidents, floods and landslides, when help needs to pin down the exact location of the train. “So far, 4,000 locomotives have been installed with the technology, and the new locomotives being built are pre-installed with the tracking devices,” said Mr. Singh.
Shri Vaishnav emphasized on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum technology for Indian Railways. Shri Vaishnav said that a pilot project was underway between Sanchar Bhawan, which houses the Ministry of Electronics, Information and Technology, and Railway Bhawan, which houses the Ministry of Railways, to use quantum key encryption to exchange data. It is “unhackable”.
“Communication flows from point A to point B but when it is encrypted or scrambled with a quantum key, it becomes increasingly difficult to hack,” explained Mr. Vaishnav.
Railways is tapping data analytics to improve passenger experience, help chart vacant seats and enable more passengers to get guaranteed tickets.
“About 2.3 crore passengers travel on Indian Railways every day, of which 30 lakh passengers travel on reserved tickets and around two crore passengers travel through the unreserved ticketing system,” Mr Singh said.
CRIS has now developed a hand-held device that can help reduce queues by issuing platform tickets to unreserved passengers. Mr. Singh said that CRIS has identified 90 use cases where AI can be used to improve rail services, including seat allocation, predictive analysis of when freight trains are empty and stock balancing of medicines across railways’ health infrastructure. “We crunch the data and provide it to Zonal Railways for further troubleshooting,” said Mr. Singh.
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