How IT, Telecom and Signaling Enabled a Landmark Rail Project
The Udhampur–Srinagar–Baramulla Rail Link stands as one of India’s most challenging infrastructure projects, combining extreme terrain with advanced digital systems. In this conversation, Ashwani Dayal, General Manager, IT – S&T at IRCON INTERNATIONAL LIMITED (IRCON) shares insights on how telecom, signaling, AI-enabled monitoring, and predictive technologies are transforming railway operations and safety in remote geographies. Dayal was also Project Head for Signaling & Telecom during the project.
The USBRL project is considered one of India’s most complex infrastructure projects. What were the key IT, signaling and telecom challenges?
The biggest challenge was the lack of ecosystem and availability of resources in such difficult terrain. When IRCON started the project from Baramulla-Srinagar-Banihal in 1999, there was no major telecom network operator in the Valley, no reliable connectivity, and even basic IT infrastructure was absent. IRCON had to build everything from scratch—networks, communication systems, and operational frameworks.
Connectivity was a major hurdle....
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