IS IT TRUE THAT INDIAN RAILWAYS MAKING THEIR OWN SATELLITE?
To smoothen passage on the ground, the Railways want to put a satellite in space. The Railway Ministry has begun talks with the Indian Space Research Organisation and project costs are being worked out, sources in the ministry said. Sam Pitroda, who heads the five-member ministerial committee on information and communications technologies, has readied a draft project proposal. This has been forwarded to the Railway Board for its approval, the sources said. The Indian Railways has a 30,000-km communication network of optical fibre cables. “The network alone cannot take care of future bandwidth needs. Instead of hiring transponders, it is best to have a dedicated satellite,” a member of the Pitroda committee told HT. A satellite will also enable WiFi connectivity at stations, on-board access to television channels, and extend the reservation system to remote areas. “Technology applications can improve freight and traffic management systems in a revolutionary manner and add to value added
