New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS): As part of the plan to improve timings and safety, Indian Railways has deployed over 2,600 Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) terminals deployed on locomotives under Phase I of Real Time Train Information System (RTIS).

RTIS is the first of its kind Satellite based train tracking system to track Indian locomotives on real time basis by linking it to ISRO satellites. It is expected that network efficiency, punctuality and data generation to improve operations of Indian Railways.

Saankhya Labs is the Satcom Technology partner for BEL in the RTIS project. The RTIS is primarily used for acquisition of train movement data, including that of arrival, departure and run-through timings at the stations enroute.

The trains hauled by RTIS enabled locomotives gets tracked and plotted automatically in the Control Office Application (COA) at Central Control office.

Saankhya Labs supplied the Satcom modems and hub-side equipment for RTIS project. The end-to-end solution was indigenously designed, developed and manufactured in India.

Minister of State for Railways, Suresh Angadi said: "This is a very important initiative by the Indian Railways in partnership with ISRO, BEL, and Saankhya Labs.

"The benefits of this will be far-reaching and help the railways improve upon its operational efficiency include timings and safety. The system generates huge volumes of data in real time that will further help streamline operations of the Indian Railways."