What is FogPASS- Indian Railways ensures safety of passengers through this device

What is FogPASS? Indian Railways ensures safety of passengers through this device

Around 19,700 GPS-based navigation devices, known as Fog Pilot Assistance System for Safety (FogPASS), are helping loco pilots operate trains around the country with minimal disruptions and delays while keeping the passenger’s safety on priority, Railways officials said.

Officials say that as fog has begun to affect visibility in the morning hours, these devices are coming in handy in the smoothoperations of trains.

“As the number of trains are increasing with the introduction of new trains, we have increased our procurement of Fog PASS devices as well,” he added.

Decoding FogPass

Introduced in 2018, FogPASS is a hand-held portable device given to loco-pilots for assistance in navigating dense fog conditions. It is a low-cost GPS-based equipment carried by the loco pilot to the locomotive while taking over duty.The device provides on-board real-time information (Display as well as voice guidance) to the loco pilot regarding the location of fixed landmarks such as signal, level crossing gate (manned & unmanned), permanent speed restrictions, and neutral sections among others, where the loco pilot’s attention is required.

“It displays approach indications of the next three approaching fixed landmarks in geographical order accompanied with a voice message at 500 mt on approach. Route survey for collecting the GPS/GNSS coordinates of landmarks is required to be carried out separately & programmed,” the official said.The device consists of a small antenna, which detects the location of the locomotive when kept in the locomotive and continuously calculates the distance remaining to the next landmarks already loaded in the system by the user railway.In terms of memory, each FogPASS unit can store events essential for diagnostic purposes for 15 days. It has built-in rechargeable battery back-up which can work up to 18 hours.

FogPASSis a hand-held portable device given to loco-pilots for assistance in navigating dense fog conditions. It is a low-cost GPS-based equipment carried by the loco pilot to the locomotive while taking overduty.The device provides on-board real-time information (Display as well as voice guidance) to the loco pilot regarding the location of fixed landmarks such as signal, level crossing gate (manned & unmanned), permanent speed restrictions, and neutral sections among others, where the loco pilot’s attention is required.

“It displays approach indications of the next three approaching fixed landmarks in geographical order accompanied with a voice message at 500 mt on approach. Route survey for collecting the GPS/GNSS coordinates of landmarks is required to be carried out separately & programmed,” the official said.The device consists of a small antenna, which detects the location of the locomotive when kept in the locomotive and continuously calculates the distance remaining to the next landmark(s) already loaded in the system by the user railway.In terms of memory, each FogPASS unit can store events essential for diagnostic purposes for 15 days. It has built-in rechargeable battery back-up which can work up to 18 hours.