Indian Railways to usher in Rail Display Network (RDN)

With a vision to grow the non-fare revenues and increase the interface with passengers, Indian Railways is starting a Rail Display Network (RDN) in association with RailTel. The RDN will facilitate robust railway information communications, as well as offer compelling advertising opportunities.

Elaborating on the project, Ranjan Thakur, Executive Director – Non-fare Revenue, Ministry of Railways, said, “We are actually going a step ahead in the digital outdoor media space. Digital OOH clubbed with television and audio-visual media will be the space to watch out for. Our own PSU RailTel did an EOI earlier this year. There will be two lakh screens at 2,175 major railway stations. These cloud-controlled screens will have the ability to run the same content at the same time in any part of the country, while as per requirement, these can be displayed in different languages.”

Starting with Old Delhi Railway Station, this network will start operating at five major stations including Gorakhpur, Jaipur, Gwalior and Varanasi. “Through phase-wise expansion, 1,000 A to C category stations will be made a part of the network in the first phase, while the 2nd phase will include 1,000 more stations, depending on the footfalls,” Thakur added.

These digital screens will run 50% content relating to railway information like train arrivals, departures, platform berthing, seats availability, etc., while the balance 50% content will be relating to advertisements.  Promoting the “Digital India” campaign envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, these screens will contribute to the aesthetics of the station premises along with accruing greater non-fare revenues.