New Delhi, Oct 13 (TIWN): It is 2.58 pm on Monday. An Indian Railways (IR) controller, Kapil Dev, is focusing on one train — No. 22430, Pathankot-Delhi Superfast Express, which has just departed from Karnal station in Haryana.

The next half hour will be critical for Dev, located in New Delhi’s control room, as well as a group of track maintainers waiting on the outskirts of Panipat Junction. By the time the train reaches Panipat, it will have run past four lesser known stations — Bazida Jatan, Gharaunda, Kohand and Babarpur. The track maintainers have asked for what’s called a block in railways jargon, which means no other train will run on that stretch while the block is enforced for repair.

At the control room, Dev has a quick telephonic conversation with the Panipat station master even as he takes a close look at his colour-coded dashboard showing movement of trains — freight, passenger, express — before granting a 15-minute block near Panipat.

For Dev & his fellow controllers taking impromptu and sensitive decisions on train movements in 305 section controls spread across India, what has emerged as a gamechanger is the Indian Space Research Organisation’s GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation), a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) that was initially developed for the Indian airspace. It now relays train-running data — both location and speed — every 30 seconds, making the system far more accurate and efficient.