Alstom has unveiled India's first-ever Digital Experience Centre for railways, marking a significant step towards the country's ambition of becoming a technology and innovation powerhouse. The sprawling 5,000 sq. ft. facility in Bangalore will serve as a nerve centre for developing and executing cutting-edge signalling solutions across urban, mainline and freight operations for more than 120 projects worldwide.
The €40 million Digital Experience Centre is part of the colossal 60,000 sq. ft. signalling lab, the largest of its kind in the country. The centre is projected to support over 7 million hours of engineering work for projects both in India and abroad.
Commenting on the Digital Experience Centre, Olivier Loison, managing director, Alstom India said: “The rail network in India, both urban and mainline is becoming highly modernised and complex, this makes its more important than ever to develop advanced signalling solutions to drive safety, efficiency, and improved passenger experience.
“In addition to our excellent manufacturing and engineering capabilities, we are proud to be now leading the charter of rail technology innovation with the launch of this centre in India. As the leaders in sustainable mobility, we look forward to developing modern signalling solutions by harnessing the country's vast talent pool, moving forward the innovation goalpost in our industry.’’
It is hoped that the centre will become a focal point for the company’s development, adaptation and validation programmes for digital signalling as well as wider research and development for rail technology. It will also conduct comprehensive simulations of signalling technologies, including the one developed for the NaMo Bharat, India's first semi-high speed regional train.
It will also play a role in the research and development of other rail technologies including AI, trackside equipment, intelligent maintenance and cybersecurity, end-to-end testing for projects and develop innovations in remote system monitoring and troubleshooting.
Photo: Alstom
