Railways Approves Rs 398 Crore Optical Fibre Project

New Delhi, Apr 6 (KNN) Indian Railways has approved a Rs 398.36 crore Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) project to strengthen communication infrastructure across Ahmedabad and Ratlam divisions of Western Railway, aimed at enhancing digital connectivity and supporting modern signalling systems.

The project has been sanctioned under the umbrella work titled “Provision of Kavach with communication backbone of LongTerm Evolution (LTE) on balance routes of Indian Railways (Umbrella Work 2024–25)”.

As part of the initiative, a 4×48 Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) backbone will be deployed over 1,929 route kilometres (RKm), including 1,456 RKm in Ahmedabad Division and 473 RKm in Ratlam Division.

The Indian Railways said in a statement that the proposed project will significantly augment the communication backbone, improving capacity, reliability and efficiency of railway communication systems. It will also support seamless data transmission required for advanced signalling technologies, including the implementation of Kavach.

The initiative forms part of the broader modernisation push of Indian Railways, with a total sanctioned outlay of Rs 27,693 crore under the Works Programme 2024–25, including Rs 2,800 crore allocated for Western Railway.

The project is expected to enhance operational efficiency, improve safety standards, and strengthen the digital transformation of the railway network for both passenger and freight services.

(KNN Bureau)