Railway telecommunications are mainly comprised of direct telephones for train operation, exchanges, transmission networks, train radios, seat-reservation systems and various other systems for railway management.
A rough history of telecommunications is as follows:
1872 - Morse-code communication through open-wire lines.
1880 - Telephone
1902 - Magnetic telephone exchange
1925 - Step-by-step automatic exchange I Lead-covered cable
1983 - Optical fiber PCM carrier transmission I Communication satellite (CS-2)
1985 - Stored-program digital exchange
1987 - Privatization of JNR
Railway telecommunications started with Morse-code communication for blocking procedures through open-wire lines when the first railway service in Japan began operation between Shinbashi and Yokohama in 1872. After that, the block system grew independently into railway signals.
Telephones were installed in 1880, and magnetic telephone exchanges introduced in 1902. Use of teleprinters commenced in 1935, and later on developed into data communication and facsimile.
Step-by-step exchange as the first form of automatic exchange was introduced in 1925, but was, however, limited because of its characteristics. After World War II, cross-bar exchange was employed in 1958, as a first step in attaining nationwide toll-dial, completed later in 1979.
