Prabhu: World's largest 'Digital displays' for train arrivals and departures

India is going to be the first country which will use radar and laser-based terrain-imagining vision for monitoring obstruction on railway tracks.

Going by the name Tri-Netra, this system will check for obstacles and barriers along railway lines and tracks.

All events occurring on the tracks will be recorded on this device in order to carry out post-event analysis.

While driving, loco pilots (drivers) depend solely on visual clues and visual images besides signals, to prevent hindrances.

The objective of this technology is to prevent mishaps by warning the driver about potentially dangerous circumstances well in advance.

Visualising danger from a reasonable distance will provide the loco pilots sufficient time to apply the brakes and thereby prevent accidents.

IRCTC plans to launch its IRCTC Rail Connect App next week.

This app will aid in faster booking of tickets and cater to the increasing demand of travelers to "make the ticketing App more user-friendly and faster."

The passengers will be able to explore and reserve train tickets, review their current reservations or cancel them, and get forthcoming journey alerts through the app.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu unveiled a plan that would save Rs.41,000 crore over 10 years.

This will be possible through an integrated energy management system.

The plan, known as Indian Railways' Mission 41k initiative, will electrify 24,000km of railway tracks over the next 5 years by doubling the annual rate of electrification.

The minister said that electrification will reduce railways' dependence on fuel.

In its new business plan 2017-18, the Railways have announced steps to move towards an Aadhaar-based, cashless ticketing system.

Aadhaar will be compulsory for senior citizen concessions from April 1, and for registration at the IRCTC website.

6,000 point-of-sale machines and 1,000 automatic ticket vending machines are set to be installed across the country.

A new integrated app will also be launched by May.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said India was setting up the world's largest 'digital display network' in the world to provide real-time information on train arrivals and departures.

The displays will also show infotainment services to boost the railways' non-ticket revenues.

The railways also unveiled a Made-in-India suburban train in Mumbai.

Several new long-distance trains starting from Mumbai have also been flagged off.