Birth of Radio on Indian Rails

‪@wdfindiaDelhi‬
In this video, I am describing about efforts made by AIR Resources in extending AIR radio services for the travelers on Indian Rails in 2002. During my college days, I immensely enjoyed cricket and hockey commentaries. All India Radio was the only source which used to relay live commentaries. In those days, while travelling on Rails, I used to miss AIR news and special programs such as live commentary of cricket matches.
In earlier episodes I discussed about: “Birth of AIR satellite radio to Middle East & North East Africa and south East Asia" in May 2000 and "Birth of AIR Global: Extension of AIR Delhi FM to Mauritius".
I wished to fulfil my young age dream using WorldSpace satellite that AIR had leased to provide services in Asia and Africa. The problem of satellite radio is that the dish antenna must continuously get the signal from satellite. We decide to use a technology known as space diversity which uses multiple dishes at several places. We contacted Indian Railway authorities and explained our plan to conduct the trial. We fitted the dishes on the top of the train both on engine and guard side to avoid interruption while the train passed though bridges. The signals were combined and fed to the announcement system using a bridge and control system in Guard’s room. It was decided to relay the news, morning broadcasts and special broadcasts, if there were any.
Discussions were held with the top authorities of Railway board who gave its in-principle approval to go-ahead on select Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. It was decided to conduct the trial and Delhi-Mumbai Shatabdi express on 18th June 2002. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was agreed to be signed after the June 18 trial run. It was decided that AIR and the Railway Board will hold another round of talks to finalise the modalities of the new service.
The first trial was on Delhi-Mumbai route on 18th June 2002 was a grand success. People on train were amazed and excited to get the program on running train including the relay of 2002 FIFA World Cup commentary. Subsequently, this was extended to more express trains which had facilities of PA system in the train.
One morning, I learnt that Engineer in Chief, AIR sent his favourite person from R & D to present this innovation in International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Geneva without the knowledge of innovators. Nevertheless, it was highly appreciated and acclaimed by ITU. It was learnt that China was quick to use in their trains.