New Delhi — In a major stride towards inclusive digital transformation in Indian Railways, the Digital India Bhashini Division (DIBD) and the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to co-develop multilingual artificial intelligence solutions for enhancing passenger experience.
The agreement was signed in New Delhi by Amitabh Nag, CEO of BHASHINI, and G.V.L. Satya Kumar, Managing Director of CRIS.
The collaboration will bring BHASHINI’s advanced language technology stack—featuring Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Text-to-Text Translation, Text-to-Speech (TTS), and Optical Character Recognition (OCR)—to various public-facing platforms operated by CRIS, such as the National Train Enquiry System (NTES) and RailMadad. The goal is to enable railway users to interact with services in 22 Indian languages, ensuring greater accessibility for people across linguistic backgrounds.
“This partnership will redefine how citizens connect with railway services. By integrating BHASHINI’s AI technologies, we are eliminating language barriers and making public services more inclusive,” said Amitabh Nag.
G.V.L. Satya Kumar noted, “Our collaboration with BHASHINI reflects CRIS’s commitment to improving user experience with AI-driven solutions that are accessible to all. These innovations will enhance not just efficiency but also equity in service delivery.”
Key focus areas of the MoU include:
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Developing AI-powered chatbots and voice assistants for multilingual passenger support
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Building multilingual interfaces for railway enquiry counters
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Integrating language tools into digital channels like websites, apps, kiosks, and helplines
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Scaling services using both cloud and on-premise infrastructure
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Enabling real-time voice interaction across multiple Indian languages
The partnership will also feature a series of joint technical workshops and pilot implementations in the coming months.
This collaboration supports the broader vision of Digital India, positioning the country as a global pioneer in deploying language AI for public digital infrastructure and improving access to essential services for all.
