Railways Shuts Down IIT Kanpur’s Rs 100 Crore Simran Project

KDroid

Cyborg Agent
Earlier Indian Railways partnered with IIT Kanpur on a Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (Simran) which was meant to help passengers know the exact position of a train via Global Position System and digital mapping of stations is now reportedly shutdown due to lack of funds.*www.100marks.in/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/simran_thumb.jpg
“Railways has scrapped the service of Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (SIMRAN), an ambitious project of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Though, we requested Railway board to continue it but no response was received from them”, Said Registrar, IIT, Kanpur RK Sachan .
The ambitious Rs 100 Crore project was under pilot with several trains including Rajdhani and Shatabdi and was integrated with Google maps; but the project has now been shut down owing to lack of funds

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Flash

Lost in speed
I like the name - Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (Simran)
The train is never going to reach the station on time, so whats the use of GPS? :lol:

Indian Railways should enhance/maintain the current infrastructure well.
For foreigners entering India via train, the first disappointment will be the ill-maintained stations + its bathrooms.
 

RCuber

The Mighty Unkel!!!
Staff member
Lack of Funds eh? .. .. a GPS tracker costs 10-20K thats all :| .. we used to track 100 vehicles using a Rs. 40K computer :| apparently .. and you dont even need to buy software .. there are open source tracking application available :| ..
 

dalbir

Broken In
I think it was a nice project for the passengers and the Railways.
They must proceed as they will earn a great revenue from this too.
 

Flash

Lost in speed
Our govt is like our people.
Some don't even know there are open-source-alternatives available for certain things!
 

spacescreamer

Journeyman
I like the name - Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (Simran)
The train is never going to reach the station on time, so whats the use of GPS? :lol:

A GPS tracking system IS the thing to use in case of Delayed trains.

What else will you do with trains or any public transport which is going to arrive on time..? Use the tracking to see its punctuality in milliseconds..?
A tracking system will enable waiting passengers to see where the delayed train is, so as to make arrangements/calculations for any other alternative or for rescheduling purposes.
 

Flash

Lost in speed
Oh. Is it? Its not about the punctuality, but the feasibility!
GPS is not the only thing for alternative/rescheduling purpose of a delayed train!
 

root.king

geek in action
A GPS tracking system IS the thing to use in case of Delayed trains.

What else will you do with trains or any public transport which is going to arrive on time..? Use the tracking to see its punctuality in milliseconds..?
A tracking system will enable waiting passengers to see where the delayed train is, so as to make arrangements/calculations for any other alternative or for rescheduling purposes.

Not only for punctuality but also it stops the railways accidents.
 

ssdivisiongermany1933

Still in war with allies
insufficient funds ......ROFL

Increase fare by 1/2 percent for a month ,Railways can have more than sufficient funds . The babus can also take away some money with them to home and also No Mamata deewar
 

CyberKID

In search for Tech Gyan!
It's not the lack of funds, it's an utter wastage of the taxpayer's money. The project was of Rs. 100 Crores, out of which, a few would have already been wasted. Now they are crying about lack of funds. Why the hell they started a project like this when they were not sure about the budgetary requirements, wasting crores of taxpayer's money, valuable time of IIT Kanpur's students and faculty and then ultimately scrapping the project?
As far as using GPS trackers to maintain an exact location of the train, IMO, it's quite possible with a technology as simple as Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID). Railways already has a large network of communication systems running up along the tracks. Being from a Geography background, and whatever I've studied and know about Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Geographic Information Systems (GIS), it's not that easy and reliable to make use of GPS and GIS technologies in such scenarios where climatic conditions can drastically affect the usability of it. We as a country, so much advanced into Rocket science and Satellite Technology, haven't been able to put up our own Global Positioning System, and still depending upon the American and Russian GPS systems.
 
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