Indian Railways uses RTIS from ISRO to track trains in real-time

The Real-Time Train Information System (RTIS), developed in collaboration with ISRO, would be mounted on locomotives and trains to automatically acquire train movement time at the stations, including that of arrival and departure or run-through, according to the Ministry of Railways.

On the control chart for those trains in the Control Office Application (COA) system, they are automatically plotted.

Every 30 seconds, this will display the most recent movement information to train passengers. According to a press release from the Railways, the Train Control can now more precisely and automatically track the location and speed of RTIS-enabled locomotives and trains.

For 2700 locomotives, RTIS devices have been installed in 21 electric locomotive sheds. Phase-II roll out would cover 6000 additional locomotives dispersed over 50 loco sheds using ISRO’s satellite communications centre.

Approximately 6500 locomotives currently provide a direct GPS feed (RTIS and REMMLOT) to the Control Office Application (COA). According to a statement from the ministry, the integration of COA and NTES has made it possible for passengers to receive real-time information and autonomous train charting.