Minister of State for Railways Shri Rajen Gohain has informed that Railways propose to install display screens at foot-over bridges, platforms, waiting rooms etc. at Railway Stations under Railway Display Network (RDN) project. RailTel Corporation of India Ltd, a Public Sector Undertaking under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways, has been appointed as Nodal Agency to implement and manage Indian Railway’s RDN system.
Railway Display Network is envisaged to become a unique medium of communication with passengers which will not only provide necessary information and social messages to the passengers but will also become a medium of enriched infotainment.
Along with train information, it is proposed to display advertisement and social messages on the display screens. Railway Display Network will generate revenue by displaying contextualized advertisements for pre-agreed duration and frequency. Railway Display Network is planned to be built and operated on a self-sustainable model with no capital investment by Indian Railways.
Railway Display Network system will:
- i) Display information related to train arrival, departure, train running status, platform and other passenger related information round the clock.
- ii) Display information related to passenger amenities, comfort, convenience and safety.
iii) Display emergency messages on SOS basis and messages related to Disaster Management.
- iv) Infotainment and social messages for engaging passengers.
- v) Self-sustainable model by generating revenue through advertisement or any other related revenue generation opportunities.
The Proof of Concept (Pilot) of the project has since been completed at 16 stations of Indian Railways and around 500 display screens have been installed for the pilot project. The Railway Display Network system including installation of Display screens is expected to cover all A1, A, B, C, and D category stations of Indian Railways.
Railway Display Network system is proposed to be built and operated on a self-sustainable model with no capital investment by Indian Railways. Roll-out of the Railway Display Network system at various designated stations is expected to be done in a phased manner, starting with deployment at A1 category stations followed by A, C and other category stations. The complete project is expected to be completed in 4 years.