The government has approved expenditure of almost ₹25,000 crore that will be spent over next five years in upgrading 34000 km track – about ₹12,000 crore in signalling systems, and ₹12,000 crore in putting in place the 4G spectrum infrastructure.

With this spectrum, Indian Railways has envisaged to provide LTE (Long Term Evolution) based Mobile Train Radio Communication on its route.

In addition to this, it has approved TCAS (Train Collision Avoidance System), an indigenously developed ATP (Automatic Train Protection) System, which will help in avoiding train collisions thereby reducing accidents and ensuring passenger safety.

Strategic shift

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 fulfill the ‘Make in India’ mission and generate employment.

The purpose of the LTE 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 and locos, and live video feed of CCTV cameras in the train coaches to ensure efficient, safer and faster train operations.

Also read: Railways delivers nearly 27,000 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen across country

The spectrum charges may be levied based on formula basis as prescribed by Department of Telecommunications for royalty charges and licence fee for captive use as recommended by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, said the release.

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