The Digital India Bhashini Division (DIBD) and the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop multilingual artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for Indian Railways.

The collaboration is set to enhance the way passengers interact with railway services by providing support in 22 Indian languages.

The move is a step towards improving linguistic inclusivity and digital transformation in the Indian Railways.

The MoU was signed by BHASHINI CEO Amitabh Nag and CRIS Managing Director G.V.L. Satya Kumar in the country’s capital.

The initiative will see the integration of BHASHINI's advanced language technology stack, including Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Text-to-Text Translation, Text-to-Speech (TTS), and Optical Character Recognition (OCR), into CRIS-managed systems such as the National Train Enquiry System (NTES) and RailMadad.

Nag said: “This collaboration will transform how millions of passengers engage with railway services daily. Through BHASHINI’s AI capabilities, we are ensuring that language is no longer a barrier to accessing vital public services.”

The partnership's objectives extend to co-developing chatbots and voice assistants for multilingual passenger support, creating multilingual interfaces for railway enquiry setups, and scaling services through both cloud and on-premises infrastructure.

These AI capabilities are planned to be deployed across various platforms, including websites, mobile apps, kiosks, and call centres, supporting real-time, speech-based interaction in multiple Indian languages.

Joint technical workshops and pilot deployments are scheduled to begin in the coming months.

Kumar said: “CRIS is proud to partner with BHASHINI to implement inclusive, AI-powered solutions across our digital platforms. This will enhance accessibility, transparency, and efficiency in our passenger-facing services.”

In a related development, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the first of 1,200 Siemens Mobility D9-9000 HP electric locomotives, manufactured at the Indian Railways factory in Dahod, Gujarat.

The D9 locomotive is touted as the "second most powerful" in Indian Railways, following the 12,000 horsepower WAG-12B.