- Enhances safety and security of train operations
- Brings strategic shift in Railways operations & safety
- Ensures seamless communication with loco pilots and guards, thereby improving safety
- Provides secure voice, video and data communication services for operational, safety and security applications
- Estimated investment of the total project is more than Rs. 25,000 Crore
- Project will be completed in next 5 years
- In addition, Railways has approved Train Collision Avoidance System, an indigenously developed system, which will help in avoiding train collisions thereby ensuring passenger safety
Giving
a boost to ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ mission, the Union Cabinet, chaired by
the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal for allotment
allotment of 5 MHz Spectrum in 700 MHz frequency band to Indian
Railways for public safety and security services at stations and in
trains.
With
this spectrum, Indian Railways has envisaged to provide LTE (Long Term
Evolution) based Mobile Train Radio Communication on its route. The
estimated investment in the project is more than Rs. 25,000 Crore. The
project will be completed in the next 5 years.
In
addition to this, Indian Railways 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.
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 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
Spectrum charges may be levied based on formula basis as prescribed by
Department of Telecommunications for Royalty Charges and License Fee for
Captive use as recommended by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.