OREANDA-NEWS. On July 17, 2007 Valentin Gapanovich, head engineer at Russian Railways, gave a presentation at the Ministry of Transport on “Navigation in Transport using the GLONASS/GPS satellite systems”, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

GLONASS is the acronym Russian GLObal NAavigation Satellite System.

In recent years, Russian Railways has been working on integrating satellite navigation signals from GLONASS/GPS in algorithms of automated rail transport systems.

According to Gapanovich, approximately 7,000 locomotives are at present fitted with Russian satellite navigation receivers.

As Gapanovich noted, with a total volume of up to 20,000 users, rail transport is the second-largest potential market for satellite navigation receivers after road users.

“Russian Railways will adopt satellite technology only if our high demands for accurate positioning are met,” emphasised Valentin Gapanovich.

The Company is currently working on creating and developing the infrastructure to cover Russia and on satellite systems to manage transportation processes and logistics operations, as well as on installing satellite navigation systems in rolling stock and satellite technology for scanning infrastructure facilities to forecast natural and industrial accidents.

Valentin Gapanovich also noted that Russian Railways has entered global markets with its own technologies and technical solutions in which satellite systems will be integrated in train safety equipment and management systems for the transportation process.

“Together with Finmeccanica from Italy, the Company has begun the joint development of a train safety system for export, including to European markets, based on the latest Russian advances - and the satellite navigation systems GLONASS/GPS are the key elements here,” said Valentin Gapanovich.