The Central Railway will soon invite tenders for installing LCD TVs in 34 rakes. It had earlier awarded the contract for 24 rakes. On January 26 this year,the CR introduced a 12-car rake with LCD TVs on an experimental basis. But till now,only three trains have been fitted with LCDs. The contract was given to Fortune Creation Media Private Ltd for three years and can be extended to two more years depending on the companys performance. The Central Railway earns Rs 6 lakh per rake annually as licence fee. In the first two rakes,data was fed in the TV by using a pen drive but in the third rake,a data card has been used. Commuters can see live programmes, a senior Central Railway official said. The LCDs will also show advertisements,snippets on social awareness issues,railway maps,news alerts and other important notices. At present,there are 136 rakes in CR,but only 104 are in service. According to the CR official,"For now,LCD screens will be installed only in non-Siemens rakes. After we get a report from MRVC,contract for installing LCDs in 44 Siemens rakes will be given out. However,Western Railway was the first to install TV on local trains. Two years ago,LCD screens were installed in five rakes. Hype Media private Ltd got the contract to install LCDs in five 12-car local trains. But the contract was cancelled later due to some problems.
