Hughes, one of the leading providers of satellite broadband services, Managed Network Services and products for businesses, governments and consumers, has announced that it has been awarded the mandate to set up the first dedicated VSAT hub for the Indian Railways. This would allow Indian railways to offer a host of mission critical applications like Disaster Communication System, Accident Relief Train (ART), Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) and Freight Operating Information System (FOIS) in remote locations. In addition, the Railways is also planning to introduce Internet access on running trains and is currently undertaking a proof of concept in one of the trains between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Speaking on the development, K Krishna, AVP Marketing, Hughes India, said, "We have been working with the Indian Railways for the last two years by supporting them to run their FOIS applications on the hired hub. Their decision to partner with us as they embark to set up a dedicated VSAT hub for Indian Railways validates the efficacy of satellite as a medium of choice to run mission critical and consumer facing applications across the length and breadth of the country. We look forward to helping them build greater efficiencies into their system that will affect a wide population of consumers".

The commissioning of the dedicated VSAT hub, will allow Railways to connect 1,000 locations across 19 states as against 200 earlier. This new system will help Railways to have voice and data connectivity for their services at remotely located stations where fixed and mobile network of telecom operators has not yet reached even after a massive revolution in telecom industry in recent times.

Disaster Communication System and Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) terminals are very critical applications for Railways. Once successful, this will help Railways in proliferating UTS terminals to remote areas and city centres as well as aid quick establishment of a communication system at disaster management sites. For disaster management, Railways have already planned trackable Hughes VSAT terminals that will allow quick tracking and establishment of communication at accident sites in less than 15-20 minutes. These terminals will be installed in one Accident Relief Train (ART) for each of the 67 divisions in the Indian Railways. The wireless and auto line concentrators at such sites will further ensure that a number of Railways' Administrative phones and DOT phones can immediately be set up at accident sites, resulting in faster communication for stranded passengers and better accident site management.