In order to improve its connectivity and make the system more integrated, the Indian Railways has decided to take a significant step of installing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tags in all wagons by December 2022.
As the RFID tags will be fitted in the wagons, trackside readers will be installed at stations and key points along the tracks to read the tag from a distance of about two meters and transmit the wagon identity over a network to a central computer. Hence, each moving wagon can be identified and its movement can be tracked. At present, the Indian Railways is maintaining such data manually. The manual recording leaves scope for errors. Thus, using RFID devices will be easier for the railways to know the exact position of all the wagons, locomotives and coaches. Moreover, this will also benefit the Railways to identify the issue of shortage of wagons, locomotives and coaches and the issues can be addressed in a more transparent and timely manner.
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As many as 23,000 wagons have been covered under the RFID project as of yet. The Project is still in progress, although the work’s pace was lowered for some time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(With inputs from PIB)
