Hughes to set up Railways VSAT hub

Hughes to set up Railways VSAT hub

To strengthen Indian Railway’s communication network considerably

Friday, June 20, 2008

BANGALORE, INDIA: Satellite broadband services provider Hughes India has bagged the contract to set up the first dedicated VSAT hub for the Indian Railways to strengthen its communication network.

The commissioning of the first VSAT hub will allow the railways to connect 1,000 locations across 19 states as against 200 earlier.

It will help railways to have voice and data connectivity for their services at remotely located stations untouched by fixed and mobile telecom networks.

The hub will also enable railways to offer applications such as disaster communication system, accident relief train, unreserved ticketing system and freight operating information system in remote locations.

The railways also have plans to introduce Internet access on running trains and.

At present, it is undertaking it on an experimental basis in a train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

K Krishna, AVP, marketing, at Hughes India, said that his company has been working with the Indian Railways for the last two years by supporting them to run their FOIS applications on the hired hub.

Though the exact value of the deal has not been made public, it is estimated to run into several crores of rupees.

For disaster management, the trackable terminals will be installed in one accident relief train (ART) for each of the 67 divisions in the Railways.

©CyberMedia News