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Chennai , Nov. 14

RAIL passengers will be able to keep in touch with near and dear ones even while on board a train. Thanks to RailTel Corporation, which is modernising Indian Railways' communication network and in the process earning crores renting the facility to the private sector. It will also make rail travel safer due to better communication.

Briefing presspersons about the RailTel Corporation of India Ltd, Mr R.C. Sharma, its Managing Director, who inaugurated the first network operational centre for the south here on Friday, said that the company has laid over 22,000 km of Optical Fibre Cables of which 16,000 km are in use and connect electronic equipment including telephones. Over the next three years RailTel will interconnect 40,000 km of the 63,000 km rail network. The balance is to be connected with optical fibre cables or copper cables.

To the passengers it means that soon the overhead cables that can be damaged by man-made or natural disaster, and unavailable when most needed, are being replaced with more durable underground optical fibre cables. Thus rail operations will not only be more efficient due to clearer communication between moving trains, railway stations and offices, increasing safety, but in the event of disaster, enabling faster relief.

RailTel is also going to be raking in loads of money. The railways will need just a fraction of the cable's capacity. The surplus is available, at a cost, to a host of other users such as Internet service providers, mobile telephone companies and FM radio stations, Mr Sharma said.

For instance, `Mumbai'ites hear the latest Bollywood songs beamed by Radio Mirchi from RailTel's microwave towers. Most telephone service providers including BSNL have tied up with RailTel to use its infrastructure. In 2002-03, RailTel earned Rs 9.5 crore, and the income is expected to treble in the current year. More cable more money.

RailTel will also provide Internet facilities at major railway stations and people anywhere in India can get information over phone, using a common number, at local charges from call centres. Internet will also be available on moving trains, starting with one of the Shatabdi expresses, he said.

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