Rlys outlines $1.5-b IT spend over five years

NEW DELHI: The Railways proposes to spend $1.5 billion over the next five years in IT, including ERP, commercial portal and integration of various software platforms. 

"There is a lot of scope for IT in the Railways. India is doing good work in IT and companies should focus on bringing the benefits to the common man in far-flung areas," said Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, accepting Nasscom's IT Transformation Award for the Railways for use of technology by it. 

According to Sudhir Kumar, OSD to the Minister, the Railways plans to multiply investment in IT by five times over the next five years. 

"We spent Rs 1,000 crore on IT in the 10th Plan. We are proposing to spend at least $1.5 billion in the next five years," he said.