Optical fibre cable (OFC) link between Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur railway stations was commissioned by S. Manohar, Additional Member, Signal, Railway Board, New Delhi, at Tiruchendur on Monday, in the presence of A.V. Siva Prasad, Chief Signal and Telecommunication Engineer, Southern Railway, Chennai, and Sunil Kumar Garg, Divisional Railway Manager, Madurai.
The 62-km-long ‘24-fibre optic cable’, installed at a cost of Rs. 1.98 crore, connecting five block stations – Tiruchendur, Arumuganeri, Srivaikuntam, Seidunganallur and Tirunelveli – out of the 11 stations in the section would enhance safety at the block sections, Mr. Manohar said.
“This modern cable is free from copper and will, therefore, not be stolen. It provides superior quality of communication with a large number of built-in telephone channels to meet the future needs of train operation and safety. At present, the capacity is 630 channels and it is expandable up to 800 channels,” he said.
The optical fibre technology would be very useful in the future for introducing mobile communication in running trains, between the loco pilots and the guards and also section control in the moving train. It would also be useful in emergencies, he noted.
After its use by the railway authorities in passenger reservation channels and other axle counter utilities to enhance safety, the spare capacity would be utilised by ‘Rail Tel’ to provide internet facility at stations and in running trains as well as for commercial exploitation like providing cable TV in remote areas, he said.
T.M. Sridhar, Chief Signal and Telecommunication Engineer, Projects and Planning, Southern Railway, Chennai, Shivnath Babu, Senior Divisional Signal and Telecommunication Engineer, Madurai, Rajeevan, Deputy Chief Signal and Telecommunication Engineer, OFC, Chennai, and others were present.
