New Delhi: Amid rising incidents of derailments and accidents, the Indian Railways has decided to rope in Japanese experts to grapple with the situation.
A high-level team of experts from Japan comprising of representatives of Japan’s ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism (MLIT), JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and railway operators visited India this week and discussed in detail the scope of cooperation between the two countries in the matter of Railway safety.
The Japanese team visited Indian Railway’s coach, wagon and locomotive maintenance facilities and also observed rail welding and track maintenance practices bring followed at present, a senior Railway official said on Wednesday.
MLIT had in response to the request from Indian Railways deputed a team of Japanese Railway experts to India to assess incidents of rail breakage and suggest measures to improve safety in train operations. The official said that the first meeting was held in January with Japanese Experts.
After this, a separate memorandum of cooperation (MoC) on Railway safety was signed on February between Ministry of Railways, Government of India and MLIT, Japan to cover area adequately.
The memorandum envisages cooperation in Rail Safety on area such as maintenance of Track (welding, rail inspection, track circuit etc.) and rolling stock maintenance.
Capacity development has been taken as a technical cooperation project under the MoC to develop Indian Railways’ capacity in respect of the above identified areas.
These areas have been incorporated in the terms of reference of the cooperation.
Japanese Railways is one of the oldest Rail system in the world. Japan is the pioneer in the High Speed Rail ‘Shinkansen’. Japanese Railways has an impeccable record with Safety. Ministry of Railways (GoI) had requested Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) for technical cooperation in Rail Safety.
The cooperation will facilitate exchange of information and visit of experts from both sides. A workshop is proposed to be organised in the first week of Nov’2017 in association with Japanese experts.
