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RailTel to provide STD/mobile/Internet services on trains

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

RailTel Corporation of India Limited is planning to provide STD/ISD, mobile and Internet services in running trains as well as railway stations all over the country.

RailTel managing director A K Chopra told newsmen in Hyderabad on Monday that the corporation has ambitious plans to lay 33,000 route km optic fibre cable network to change the communication scenario along the railway lines across the country. The optic fibre project would be completed by 2007 at an outlay of Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion).

The RailTel network would create a national broadband telecom and multimedia network to provide a platform for communication revolution, especially in rural areas. As part of the project, all the four metropolitan cities in the country would be connected within the next three months.

On an experimental basis, Internet/STD/ISD kiosks would be set up on the railway platforms of all stations on Baroda/Ahmedabad route in Gujarat, Ludhiana-Amritsar in Punjab and Tambaram/Chennai in Tamil Nadu by March 2003.

"Once this experiment is successful, we will introduce the same facility on all long distance trains and manned coaches on franchise basis. Usage of pre-paid card/SMART card will also be allowed," Chopra explained.

RailTel has placed orders for STM 1 equipment with a bandwidth of 155.5 Mbps at each station, upgradable to STM 4 (622 Mbps) at 411 railway stations covering 3,200-route km for short haul. It has also placed orders for STM 16 (2.5 Gbps) covering the 11,000-route km for long haul and work would be completed by March 2003.

The optic fibre link of the RailTel would cover important routes such as Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Pune-Chennai, Chennai-Kolkata, Kolkata-Delhi, Mumbai-Kolkata, Bangalore-Hyderabad and Mumbai-Ahmedabad. Initially, Delhi-Chennai would be covered via Mumbai-Kolkata. Surplus bandwidth available at the stations would help extend Internet/telephone facilities to rural areas.

Even as the cable-laying work is in progress, the RailTel has managed to attract 11 customers including basic service providers, cellular operators and Internet service providers, who were using BSNL network, to use the RailTel network. This would help passengers to be connected on their cells throughout the journey.

Considering the fact that the absence of PNR enquiry facility at stations was a major handicap, the RailTel has designed its network to support touch-screen kiosks for PNR enquiries, information on trains and tourist places.

The RailTel's income was expected to go up from Rs 4 crore (Rs 40 million) last year to Rs 70 crore (Rs 700 million) next year.

Once the entire network got in place, the projected income would soar further toRs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion). The project was being executed with 51 per cent contribution from RailTel and other PSUs, 49 per cent of the total investment has come from private parties, Chopra pointed out.

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