Indian and German Railways to set up working group on safety

A joint working group of Indian Railways and German Railways will be formed to work on safety in rail operations with a view to help in the “Zero Accident Mission” of Indian Railways. The Working Group would look into the training, technology and processes for improving the safety. This was discussed during the meeting between
Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and the visiting German Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt at Rail Bhavan. This working group on safety would be a deliverable on inter-government consultations tentatively planned in Berlin in May, 2017. The German Minister also extended invite to Indian Railway officials to visit Germany to see their technology and safety systems. The two sides held wide ranging discussions on many specific areas of mutual interest in rail sector. The areas include speed raising, capacity increase of passenger & goods transport lines, safety, energy efficient rail operations, education & training, high speed rail, standards & norms and station development. In a significant suggestion, the Indian Railway Minister requested the German side for extending their proposal of  high speed(300 kmph +) rail study of Mysore -Bangalore –Chennai Corridor to Vijayawada city of the important State of Andhra Pradesh also. It was pointed out that High Speed Rail Connectivity through Mysore -Banglore –Chennai-Vijayawada Corridor will give boost to the regional development and will link the important States of Southern India.  The German Minister acknowledged this request of extending scope of study to include Vijayawada and assured to look into this positively. The study which is fully funded by German Government is likely to start from January, 2017. The German Minister welcomed Indian Railways’ Station Redevelopment Programme along with development of Smart Cities in India and offered German cooperation on this matter.
Dobrindt was on an official visit to India from October 12-14, 2016, especially on an invitation from the Indian Railway Minister. The two sides were accompanied by their respective delegations during the bilateral talks.