Tired of waiting for information on trains? Or travelling by train and tired of waiting for it to reach the next station?

Nowadays, you have varied choice for getting information on current location of train. Gone are the days of depending on phone lines and boards at stations to ascertain location of trains. Online tracking system and also SMS system of train tracking has made things much simpler.

Indian railways cart around 20 million passengers daily between 7000 stations. It is a humongous task to keep the network running with clockwork precision. Hence, there are inevitable delays, cancellations and diversions.

As such one waiting to board the train, or waiting inside train to get to a station or waiting to receive family or friends from trains will find useful the information on the current status of trains.

In 2011, the Indian Railways made efforts for a solution to this problem. It flagged of Rs110 crores system that is satellite based instead of manual tracking of trains to pinpoint train location of Indian Railways.  The Real Time Train Information System (RTIS) intends to give information on current train running information to the general public via SMS (mobile phones), Internet, call centers and train indication boards located at stations. It also aims to provide information for on-board passengers through display systems provided inside coaches.

The RTIS aims to replace the manual recording system that connects around 8000 trains across the 7000 stations across the country and to help tracking train location in India. Prior to RTIS, station masters called control rooms in the division headquarters to indicate that a particular train has passed his station. But this manual system was woefully inadequate.

The railways made efforts to set up loco devices in all locomotives as well as stations to get current movement data through satellites. Details of trains like speed, names, duration and all other relevant information were to be provided by system. The RTIS was first experimented on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains and was quite successful.

This system developed by the collaboration of the RDSO with IIT Kanpur uses Global System (GS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) for mobile technology of communication to convey information.   The Railways has completed the digital mapping of most stations. The system also tracks freight trains.

The RTIS provided the first service for online train location tracking in India. Another advantage is the efficiency in running of trains because the movement data are made available to servers of Indian Railways. Information on real time basis about trains like speed, location, direction can be utilized to improve efficiency of trains in every section.

For linking various data of stations, signal information, yard details, city and infrastructure details like hospital details, digital maps can be used especially in times of emergency.

In March 2012, Indian Railways announced that it would soon start the real-time tracking of Indian trains on Google maps, which could be used through laptops and mobile devices. The technology arm of the Indian railways- Centre for Railway Information system (CRIS) in collaboration with the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization ) developed a GPS-based solution that can provide the exact location of  a train on real time basis, which has an accuracy of ten meters and latency period of 2 minutes.

The GPS devices costing around Rs.1 lac per train was fitted first in 100 trains mainly to help in avoiding rail accidents and collisions. It will help trains assess each other’s location and divert before an accident. The breaking distance for freight trains is 1.4 km while for passenger trains is 1 km. The government was especially concerned about accidents. In recent times, over 15% of train accidents have taken place in India.

Passengers can also view real-time locations of their trains as CRIS has merged the GPS application with Google Maps. Insat-3C satellite of ISRO will help locate the position of moving trains. ISRO is aiming at reducing the accuracy of distance to 3 m as it is critical in avoiding accidents.

A successful GPS based system helps trains run at high speed. It also helps plan the transit of trains better in inclement weather. It replaced the manual system of train scheduling. Indian Railways have around 75 control offices for 7000 stations. The GPS system helps make things simple.

In October 2012, CRIS announced the setting up of the new RailRadar system. This is an application, which permits commuters to find the location of the train on a map and keep track of running train network in real time. RailRadar has been developed by the team of CRIS and RailYatri.in.

RailRadar features high functionality and user-friendly interface. Zoom in and Zoom out facility to get details of stations and trains available in this application. Customers can search for trains and station details and get specific details like current position of the train, its route and its stoppages. RailRadar also indicates details of late running trains and timely train schedules. RailRadar also communicates to the public unusual events like train cancellation, diversion or accident so that all can make efforts and plans accordingly.

RailRadar provides information on the status of trains by marking late trains with red color and timely trains in blue color on its map. Currently, it is configured to refresh/ update itself every 5 minutes.

The Indian Railways also set up a new version of its online service of trainenquiry.com, an application called as National Train Enquiry system, which offers live information on the several thousands of trains in our country.

Another source of information on current trains status is the IRCTC website. IRCTC stands for Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation. One can track trains via IRCTC train location status. All you need to do is to log on to irctc.co.in and follow user-friendly guidelines.

Thus, modern technology has made tracking of trains exceedingly simpler than ever before.

Indian Railways is our nation’s lifeline and the third biggest rail network in the world. It ferries over 30 million passengers daily on over 10,000 passenger trains across the country and serves over 7500 railway stations.

The task of running a network on time and with accuracy and efficiency is a gargantuan and complex one. In spite of this, the Indian Railways has been making constant efforts to reach all information regarding its trains conveniently, efficiently and accurately to every passenger travelling on any one of its trains.

The oldest and most common method of imparting train related information is through the enquiry help line for Running Train Timetable. The phone numbers for train enquiry helpline are 139, 1330, 131, 1336, 1332, etc.

But phone enquiries for train information have become a thing of the past. People no longer ring up 139 and its sister numbers for getting information on updated status of trains, departure and arrival timings of trains, train schedules, delay in trains, etc. The main frustration with the traditional help lines is that at most times, all these lines are busy being flooded with calls and people do not like to deal with the heavy traffic on these lines.

Now, the question comes, which concerns most of us: How to check the current train running status in India? The answer to this problem is no longer negative. Nowadays, there is provision for online checking of train status.

The main agency to check train running status India is the Indian Railways website. Online facility for Indian Railways train running status has made things easier and simpler for train passengers throughout India.

Most passengers use the Railways timetable service on the Indian Railways website, which helps in tracking trains across the country. The ‘enhanced national train enquiry system’ made available by the Indian Railways has garnered a National Award for providing a useful service of Indian Railways train running status enquiry for passengers.

Online services are also provided by websites like www.trainenquiry.com, www.indianrail.gov.in, www. erail.in, indiarailinfo.com, www.irctc.co.in, www.travelkhana.com, etc. Here is how some of these sites operate:

www.trainenquiry.com: It provides a ‘spot your train’ service. Enter train number, journey/ boarding/ arrival station and journey / boarding/ arrival date. You will get a comprehensive feedback on queried station, expected departure, current position, last updated station and expected departure. It also gets ‘live station update’: enter name of stations to get the name of trains, the time limit, types of trains, etc. Another service is finding ‘Train Schedule’: enter train number to get station, day, scheduled arrival, scheduled departure and distance (km) between stops. For ‘trains rescheduled’, provide train number and start date and you will get a list of rescheduled trains, including train name, train number, train type, source and  destination.

You can also get train information using a Smartphone. The website www.trainenquiry.com is compatible with all smart phones and you can ascertain train running status using this website on your Smartphone.

Etrain.info: One must enter details like train name or train number to get route and running status. Give station name to track arrival and departure at stations.

IRCTC site: Train running status is useful information especially for planning a journey by train. Nowadays, passengers can go online to track the live progress of train running status. The IRCTC running trains status will help in this regard. Log on to irctc.co.in. Enter the destination (to and fro). It will reveal all trains on that route. Choose a particular train and get details. The site also indicates the last two stations crossed by the train and the next two stops, as well as arrival time at theses stops.

Travelkhana.com: In addition to the business of train food delivery, this online company has introduced a special feature like ‘track your train’ in addition to several others like ticket booking etc. It works in the following way: At the top, there is a box for entering train name or train number. Proceed now to a drop down menu where you can select your station. You must now indicate whether you want arrival time or departure time. You will get railway running status online and position of the train on map. Auto tracking of train movement is also possible. You can use this service not only on the train, but also on the platform. This service is useful for those waiting to meet others on the train as they can judge the right time to wait.

For information on trains or to place orders for food, one can log on to www.travelkhana.com. Else you can call the company’s helpline- 0-8800-31-31-31, which is available from 7 am to 10 pm. It does not charge extra for booking or for delivery of food. With our cutting edge website, one can track the movement of the train accurately. You need to provide station name, train number, and code as well as PNR number for a quick alert on the current Indian railway running status online. Note that running stations are updated regularly so you need to key in details every time you want an update.

 SIMRAN (Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation): It is a technology to track the train running status through satellites and was developed by the Indian Railways along with I.I.T. Kanpur. Live status will be provided by 139 helpline number, SMS and website of the railways.

These are some of the means by which very rail traveller can keep tabs on the trains of the Indian railways.