The Indian Railways has decided to install global positioning system (GPS) devices in all locomotives to monitor their punctuality as the national transporter grapples with running trains on time.
The national transporter is hoping to install GPS system in all trains by March next year as the railway ministry claimed it is taking a number of steps to improve the punctuality of trains.
The data logger is an electronic device which records data over time by sensing status of relays. Prior to data loggers, data of actual train running timings were entered manually and complaints of wrong entry were common.
After the introduction of the data loggers, accurate data of train running timing were being recorded and there is no human interference in the system, said Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
Though railways had low punctuality in May this year with just 59.55 %, it was 63.3 % in June, 70 % in July and 73 % in August so far.
Currently, data loggers system have been set up in 55 stations including Bengaluru City and it will be extended to other stations in a phased manner, Goyal said.
Installation of the GPS system would give more accurate running of trains and there would not be any chance to fudging of data, he added.
The Minister also said that the railways wanted to improve its punctuality without compromising on safety.
However train commuters complained that train timings not been adhered and there is no improvement on punctuality and often cut in train services in metro cities result in surge of crowd in trains
