62 km optical fibre link installed

: A 62 km optical cable fibre link between Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur stations, installed at a cost of Rs 1.98 crore, was commissioned today by a top railway official.
S Manohar, Additional Member, Signal, Railway Board, New elhi.
The 24 Fibre Optic Cable will connect the five block stations out of the 11 stations in the section -- Tiruchendur, Arumuganeri, Srivaikuntam, Seidunganallur and Tirunelveli enhances safety in the block sections, A V Siva Prasad, Chief Signal and Telecommunication Engineer.
The 24-Fibre OFC would provide superior quality of communication with built in large number of telephone channels to meet future needs of train operation and safety. At present the capacity is 630 channels which is expandable upto 800 channels, he said.

Prasad said optical Fibre technology will be very useful in future for introducing Mobile Communication in running trains between the loco pilot and guard who can talk to each other and also with section control on the moving train. This will also be useful in emergencies like accidents, he said.
Apart from use by Railways in reservation channels and other Axle counter utilities that enhance safety, the spare capacity will be taken over by RailTEL to provide Internet facility at stations and in running trains in future for commercial exploitation like providing Cable TV in remote areas.