Indian Railways Sanctions ₹398 Crore Optical Fibre Rollout to Enhance Network Infrastructure.

Indian Railways has approved a ₹398.36 crore project to strengthen its communication infrastructure in the Western Railway, with plans to deploy a 4x48 Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) backbone across the Ahmedabad and Ratlam divisions.

The project is part of the broader “Provision of Kavach with communication backbone of Long Term Evolution (LTE) on balance routes” programme—an umbrella initiative with a sanctioned outlay of ₹27,693 crore under the Works Programme 2024–25.

Within this framework, a sub-umbrella allocation of ₹2,800 crore has been earmarked for Western Railway, under which the OFC deployment project has been taken up. The approved work includes laying 2x48 fibre OFC cables over 1,929 route kilometres across the zone.

Of the total planned network, 1,456 route kilometres will be covered in the Ahmedabad Division, while 473 route kilometres will fall under the Ratlam Division. The project is aimed at enhancing the railways’ communication backbone, supporting modern safety systems and improving overall operational efficiency.