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India’s Eastern Railway recently awarded a contract to Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. (TCIL) to install a communications network designed to help reduce operating costs, improve safety, and add new services for passengers and employees.

TCIL will install a system based on Nortel Networks’ GSM for Railways (GSM-R) digital wireless network on a 162-mile, 24-station line running between Howrah and Pradhankunta.

Scheduled to be installed during the next year, the GSM-R network is part of Eastern Railway’s plan to modernize its national railway communications system. The agency serves one of 16 key railway zones in India selected to deploy GSM-R, a European Union-sponsored wireless technology being deployed in Europe and Asia.

Nortel’s GSM-R solution is designed to provide uniform transmission of voice and data for train-line operation, including communications between conductors, on-board crew, dispatchers, station personnel and other operations groups. The network also will manage operational, maintenance, motor vehicle and yard radio communications.

Eastern Railway provides passenger and freight services to West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkand.