Railways Mull Developing GPS System To Allow Passengers To Live Track Mumbai Local Trains

Mumbai commuters may soon be able to track the real-time location of local trains through an indigenous GPS system being developed by the Railways. This initiative aims to provide live updates of train positions on the RailOne application. Recently, discussions took place between the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) and senior railway officials to explore the feasibility of this system.

The Central and Western Railway local trains in Mumbai run approximately 3,254 services daily using 288 train rakes. However, the RailOne app currently lacks a feature to display live running status for Mumbai local trains. It was discussed at the meeting how Central and Western Railway information could be utilized to implement this facility.

Officials mentioned that while the Mumbai division of Western Railway can provide local train timetable information, maintaining accurate data in situations of delays, cancellations or emergencies poses challenges. The RailOne app currently allows users to check live train status. Officials indicated that they would investigate the potential of incorporating the GPS system used by the Yatri app into the RailOne app.

The possibility of installing GPS devices in every local train rake to monitor the actual locations of trains was also considered during the meeting. It was noted that officials would need to review the use of the existing system and evaluate the feasibility of installing independent GPS devices. However, no final decision or timeline for the launch of this dedicated GPS system for the Railways has been announced.