How Trains and technology grow?

Indian Railway is one of the longest railway networks and ranks fourth in the whole world. In order to compete in today’s world, we have to be technologically advanced, and thus, the Indian Railway system is also adopting all possible technological transformations. As the Indian government has taken up the ambitious Digital India initiative, the Railways have invested a lot in its up-gradation and the addition of various technological innovations to make the journey of its passengers safe and less mundane. Steps have been taken to make the system smarter with the help of apps and drone technology. Some of the recent initiatives taken up towards technological advancement are:

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• Stations With Wi-Fi Facilities- To keep up with the Digital India initiative about 8500 stations all over India have been planned to be equipped with the facilities of Wi-Fi. Before this, just 216 of the major stations were facilitated with Wi-Fi services, which enabled around 7 million rail passengers to log on and use this free internet facility. Internet has become a necessity in recent times and this is a major step in order to make India digital.
• Kiosks or Hotspots– Most of the rural railway stations will be provided with kiosks that will have Wi-Fi access. These digital hotspots will offer services like issuing government certificates, filing taxes, Aadhaar generation, digital banking, paying bills, etc. These kiosks are also intended to let the local population to order and receive different goods through e-commerce portals. The Telecom Ministry has been working out the modalities for setting up these types of digital hotspots.
• Greater Safety– A lot of delay and accidents have been caused because of dense fog and zero visibility caused by it during winters. To avoid such circumstances, a fog safety device has been installed in the trains by the Indian Railways. The movement of trains as well as flights has greatly been affected by the dense fog formed in North India during winters. This made the Rail Ministry decide to install the fog safety device. As the signals become harder to see in the foggy weather, the device alerts the drivers of the upcoming signal in the foggy track.
• Real Time Information– In addition to all the mentioned innovation, further planning is being taken to set up one of the largest digital display networks in our country. It aims to provide the real time information of all the trains’ arrival and departure. From the latest data, we know that about 15000 e-tickets are issued every minute and digital platforms are used or the purchase of 68 percent of the total tickets. Many other apps and websites also provide live train status to the passengers.
• Research And Development– More focus is being given to the research and development of the railways. Our Rail Ministry is collaborating with the Railway Research Centre in Australia for the purpose of supporting the future research and technological developments.
• Automation in Railways– It has been found that with the development of artificial intelligence and automation in the trains, the Indian Railways will become more efficient.