In a major technical advancement towards improving safety of passengers on trains, the Centre on Wednesday approved the allocation of 5 MHz spectrum in the 700 MHz band to Indian Railways for a greater precision in the national transporter’s communication and signalling systems entailing an investment of `25,000 crore.
With this spectrum, Indian Railways has envisaged providing LTE-based mobile train radio communication on its route and the project will be completed in the next five years.
The decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Briefing about the Cabinet decisions, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said railways currently relies on optical fibre for its communication network but with the allocation of fresh spectrum, it will be able to use high-speed radio on a real-time basis.
It will help in augmenting both communication and signalling networks of the railways, Javadekar outlined.
In its statement, the Indian Railways said, “It brings a strategic shift in Railways' operations and maintenance regime. It will help in improving the safety and increasing the line capacity to accommodate more trains using the existing infrastructure. The modern rail network will result in reduced transportation cost and higher efficiency. Also, it will attract multinational industries to set up manufacturing units to fulfil the 'Make in India' mission and generate employment.”
In addition, Indian Railways has approved an indigenously developed automatic Train Collision Avoidance System.
The purpose of LTE (Long Term Evolution) for Indian Railways is to provide secure and reliable voice, video and data communication services for operational, safety and security applications.
It will be used for modern signalling and train protection systems and ensure seamless communication between loco pilots and guards. It will also enable Internet of Things (IoT) based remote asset monitoring especially of coaches, wagons & locos, and live video feed of CCTV cameras in the train coaches to ensure efficient, safer and faster train operations, the Railways said.