04 January,2021 09:33 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B. Aklekar
Station announcements are crucial in a city like Mumbai where local trains have been the main lifeline. File pic
When the virus-induced pandemic slowed down its operations, the Central Railway turned the disadvantage into an opportunity by revamping its announcement system.
The CR replaced its earlier outdated technology with an internet-based network with each user now getting an IP address in addition to boosting announcement flow at all stations, aided by servers and optic fibre instead of circuits.
Station announcements are crucial in a city like Mumbai where local trains have been the lifeline. There are 118 suburban stations on the Western and Central Railways, which includes the main and harbour lines.
"The new IP (internet protocol)-based central announcement system has been commissioned at CSMT, Vashi and Byculla stations for the first time in the Mumbai division, replacing the outdated existing system. All the wayside stations can be monitored from the Announcer PC at the control office remotely. It's possible to log all the announcements too," explained Central Railway's chief public relations officer.
The audio quality is much improved since the transmission is through packet-based switching rather than a circuit-based switching. This also means uniform clarity of central announcements across all stations, said an official.
Communication through station announcements will again be the key once trains open for the general public. Another railway official said IP addresses have been assigned to all mikes and network adapters that are interconnected on Railnet. This allows them to relay live or pre-recorded voice messages to stations, he added.
The server handling the real-time broadcasting and other functionalities has a microphone and built-in speaker for two-way communications. Group announcement is possible through configuration of group of stations, so there are permutations and combinations available like never before, said an official.
Since the system will be connected over Railnet servers which have "multiple redundant paths", the possibility of failure of an IP-based network is less and it proves to be very helpful during emergencies, added the official.
The oldest former train guard in the country, Keshav Narhar Bapat, who worked with the Central Railway and had recently celebrated his 101st birthday, died on December 26, 2020. mid-day had featured him when officials from the Bhusawal division felicitated him on November 23, 2020. He had a peaceful death and his body was donated to the Godavari Medical College, Jalgaon, for research.
