Railways plans to boost mobile train radio communications

As the government permits to allocate five MHz spectrum to railways, the national transporter is hoping that it will boost mobile train radio communications and enhance safety and improve movement on its network.

The project will considerably boost the safety of trains as well as movement across the network, and it will be completed in the next five years at an estimated investment of Rs 25,000 crore, Sanjeev Mittal, Member Infrastructure, Railway Board, said here.

The spectrum will provide long-term evolution (LTE) based seamless communication between staff on running trains and traffic controllers and maintenance personnel, he said.

The Union Cabinet recently approved the allocation of 5 MHz spectrum in the 700 MHz band to railways for improving its communication and signalling systems.

Mittal said that the spectrum allocation is for public safety and security services at stations and in trains. It brings a strategic shift in the railways' operations and maintenance regime.

It will help in improving safety and increasing the line capacity to accommodate more trains using existing infrastructure, he said.

The purpose of LTE for the Indian Railways is to provide secure and reliable voice, video and data communication services for operational, safety and security applications, he said.

The system will help in the deployment of a modern cab-based signalling system with automatic train protection which will increase safety and throughout train operations and also help during fog, he said.

LTE will be used for mission-critical voice communication with seamless connectivity in train operations between the driver, guard, station master, train traffic controller and maintenance staff, the railways said in a statement.