Indian Railways : Safety From Satellite

As, Indian Railways mostly faces a problem of checking accidents at unmanned crossings. The joint collaboration of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the Indian Railways will help to check the problem of accidents along with tracking train movements on real-time basis.

ISRO is now 6th largest space agency in the world. Numerous achievements of ISRO has made Indians proud and one of them is to provide safety and security to Indian railways. For this, ISRO is using its Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) or NaVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation).

IRNSS -

It is a regional navigation system developed by the ISRO. Navigation constellation consists of 7 satellites: three in geostationary earth orbit (GEO) and four in geosynchronous orbit (GSO) inclined at 29 degrees to the equator. The system works akin to Global Positioning System (GPS) of US, GLONASS of Russia etc. It currently covers the whole of India and an area extended to 1500 km away from India.This indigenous navigation system in India would provide information on location and time in all weather conditions. It will also help Indian Railways in curbing accidents.

IRNSS or NaVIC provides two types of services:

1. A Standard Positioning Service (SPS) for civilian use or for all users. Positioning service include providing accurate position.

2. A Restricted Service (RS) for Indian armed forces or we can say service provided only to authorised users like military and security agencies.

Other applications of IRNSS -

1. Disaster Management

2. Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation

3. Vehicle tracking and fleet management

4. Integration with mobile phones

5. Precise Timing

6. Mapping and Geodetic data capture

7. Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers

8. Visual and voice navigation for drivers.

Functions of IRNSS or NaVIC system in Indian Railway -

On some train engines railways have installed the space agency-developed integrated circuit chips (IC). With the help of the installation of the hooter at unmanned road crossings NaVIC will be able to warn road users of approaching trains. The hooter will be activated as soon as it gets a signal from the IC chip installed on a train when its engine is at a distance of 500 metres to 4 km from the crossing. Hooter which is linked to the navigation system will thus warn road users about the approaching train. It will become louder as the train comes near the crossing and will fall silent after the train has passed.

Apart from warning the road users, the Indian Railways is planning to use the satellite-based system for tracking trains for disseminating information about their movement on a real-time basis. Further, it will be used to map the area covered by trains. The system will also come in handy for the railways at the time of a railway accident when it can be used to ascertain the exact location of a train.

Hence, with the world progressing every day, It is now a relief that the Indian railways are also getting automated and technology oriented. It is expected that now more innocent lives will be saved in future.