The railways ministry is planning to build a modern signalling system on the lines of European Train Control System with a view to mitigating safety risk, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said today.

He said the development, once in place, would also help control crime and make train travel safer in the country.

“To make Indian railways safe, I am planning to build the most modern signalling system through the entire railways network in India which will mean over 1.18 lakh kms of railways on the line of European Train Control System (ETCS),” he said.

The minister was speaking at a Mahindra Group event here.

Goyal said that today only 20,000 kms of railways line in the world has such an advanced safety mechanism in place.

“And we are embarking on a plan to do six times that in the next six years,” he said, adding that the entire network would be connected with wifi.

Through the wifi-enabled stations, the local population would also benefit “from the connected world”.

When asked if autonomous mobility in terms of public transport would lead to unemployment, the minister said, “every country will have to adopt to what is the most essential for that country. So really, India doesn’t need driverless cars”.