Three central ministries have come together to drive a technology mission for Indian Railways, which would be beneficial for both the national transporter and academic and research institutions.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Technology Mission for Indian Railways (TMIR) was signed today by the ministries of railways, human resource development (HRD), and science and technology.
The agreement will "facilitate collaboration and cooperation" between the ministries.
"While the Indian Railways would get the world class technologies, academic and research institutions would get involved in numerous applied research projects which would help them in reorienting research towards national objectives," Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani said.
"This MoU will facilitate the co-financing of Technology Mission for Indian Railways by investment sharing for identified railway projects for applied research," he said.
The funding component of the railways ministry is 30 per cent, the HRD ministry is 25 per cent and the department of science and technology (DST) 25 per cent.
Lohani further said that the indigenous technologies would successfully be developed with "win-win scenario" to all the consortium members.
The Technology Mission will take up research and development projects in the areas of heavy haul, safety, energy, environment and urban railways.
The projects will be implemented through a Mission Implementation and Coordination Committee having members from the three ministries, academia and the industry.
The projects will be implemented in the national research and development labs and academic institutions. Collaborations, wherever essential, will be entered into with similar foreign institutions.
The MoU was signed by TMIR chairman Professor N S Vyas, Alok Kumar, co-chairman, TMIR, on behalf of the Ministry of Railways, R Subrahmanyam, Additional Secretary, on behalf of Ministry of Human Resource Development and Dr Neeraj Sharma, Adviser, DST on behalf of the Ministry of Science and Technology.