Cabinet approves 4G spectrum for Indian Railways

The Union Cabinet has approved an allotment of 5 Megahertz Spectrum in 700 MHz frequency band to Indian Railways for public safety and security services at stations and in trains. With this spectrum, Railways has envisaged to provide Long Term Evolution, LTE-based Mobile Train Radio Communication on its route. The estimated investment in the project is more than Rs 25,000 crore and it will be completed in the next five years. The purpose of the LTE for 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.

 Briefing reporters in New Delhi after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said,until now the railways were using optical fibres for communication but now Railways will be provided with 4G spectrum for communication, thereby replacing the current 2G spectrum, to facilitate faster communication channels. this modern spectrum will bring radio communication to railways and with the help of such setup, real time communication can be established. He added that the signalling system for the trains is being renewed as well. Javadekar said that the Union government had decided to enhance the production of urea in the country, large quantities of which had to be otherwise imported earlier.