Cabinet okays allotment of 5 MHz spectrum in 700 MHz band to Railways

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved allotment of 5 MHz spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band to the Indian Railways, a long-standing demand of the national transporter. This move will give a fillip to public safety and security at stations and in trains.

The idea behind spectrum allotment is to provide LTE (long-term evolution)-based mobile train radio communication on its routes.

The project will require over Rs 25,000 crore investment and be completed in 5 years. The spectrum charges may be levied based on a formula as prescribed by DoT for royalty charges and licence fee for captive use as recommended by Trai.
 

In addition, the railways has approved TCAS (train collision avoidance system), an indigenously developed ATP (automatic train protection) system. These will help in avoiding train collisions, thereby reducing accidents and ensuring passenger safety.
 

The decision also brings a strategic shift in railways’ operations and maintenance regime.  It will help in improving safety and increasing the line capacity to accommodate more trains using the existing infrastructure, the government said.
 

Railways had asked for 10MHz of spectrum, to begin with, for setting up a public safety and security service. However, DoT only approved half of the desired quantity for allotment, on TRAI's recommendation.
 

The 700 MHz airwaves are considered premium spectrum for the railways’ indoor penetration and long-distance mobile communications. They require less number of mobile towers compared to 3G and 4G services.
 

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

The purpose of the LTE for the 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 for coaches, wagons and locos.

It will also provide live video feed of CCTV cameras in the train coaches to ensure efficient, safer and faster operations.