India, Sweden sign pact for cooperation in Railways

Through this 5-year-long MoU which also has scope for extension for five more years, the two countries intend to take further existing cooperation in bilateral trade and investment. The Dollar Business Bureau

Under the MoU, both the sides intend to develop cooperation activities in the Railways, which include Railways policy development, regulations, exchange of knowledge & technical expertise, innovation, technology, sustainable solutions and research

In a move towards drawing global-level technical standards and foreign investments into Railways, the Indian Ministry of Railways on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Swedish government for technical cooperation. “A MoU has been signed between Girish Pillai, Advisor, Infrastructure, Ministry of Railways and Oscar Stenstrom, State Secretary, Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation of the Kingdom of Sweden on Technical Cooperation in Rail sector,” said an official release. Under the MoU, both the sides intend to develop cooperation activities in the Railways, which include Railways policy development, regulations, exchange of knowledge & technical expertise, innovation, technology, sustainable solutions and research. The MoU also includes training and education programs, where in the Railway engineers and managers will be trained on the maintenance of Rail transport system. Through this 5-year-long MoU which has a scope to be extended for five more years, the two sides wish to enhance the existing cooperation in bilateral trade and investment. Tilting coaches/trains, maintenance and improvement of freight/combination traffic and capacity allocation are among the other individual projects involved. It is noteworthy that as part of its 5-year action plan, Indian Railways intends to increase the share of rail freight transport from 30-35% (current) to 50%, on the lines of US, Russia and China. While 65% of Indian trains account for passenger movements contributing to less than 30% of the total revenue, remaining 70% is covered by about 35% of freight trains. And, according to the Ministry, railway traffic and passenger volumes have almost doubled in the last decade. It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Railways has been pitching for more investments and technology inclusion into the sector. Besides signing agreements with foreign partners, the Ministry has also been seeking the State governments’ active participation in building the Indian railway infrastructure. Under this move, the Union Cabinet, in the first week of February, gave its nod for the Ministry of Railways to form joint venture companies with the individual state governments to mobilise resources for building various rail infrastructure projects across the country. According to the National Transport Development Policy Committee, the Indian Railways is eyeing investments worth about Rs.32 lakh crores by 2032. “We need to increase the investment 3-5 times,” Girish Pillai had said at an industry event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Feburary 16, 2016| 2:32pm IST.

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The Dollar Business Bureau - Feb 16, 2016 08:58 IST

India, Sweden sign pact for cooperation in Railways

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