Knowing when your next train is due has been a service lacking for the people of India.
However, today consumers can access real-time train information provided from a collaboration between IIT-Kanpur and a joint team of railways.
The service is as simple to operate as texting the train number to an SMS telno.
A Railway Ministry official gave the following statement.
The service is currently available for 36 pairs of premier trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto.
“Not all premier trains are covered yet. Some of the trains covered under the project included Mumbai Rajdhani, Howrah Rajdhani, Dibrugarh Rajdhani, Sealdah Duronto and Shatabdi trains for Bhopal, Kanpur and Amritsar,” the official said.
The facility would be extended to all major trains in the next 18 months and the railways has allocated Rs 121 crore for the project, he said.
“It will cost about Rs 50,000 to install a receiver on the locomotive for making the system operational. There will be a centre at New Delhi for receiving data from across the country. We are hopeful that by the end of 2013, all mail and express trains will have the system as the trial run for the pilot project is complete now,” the official said.
