Three Ministries sign MoU for a Technology Mission for Indian Railways

Three Ministries of the Union Government, the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Department of Science & Technology on 4 January 2018 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Rail Bhawan, New Delhi for joint funding of Technology Mission for Indian Railways.

The unique effort is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. The MOU will facilitate the co-financing of ‘Technology Mission for Indian Railways’ by investment sharing for identified railway projects for applied research.

Funding

The percentage division of the funding between the three ministries is as follows:

Ministry of Railways: 30 percent

Ministry of Human Resource Development: 25 per cent

Department of Science & Technology: 25 per cent

Background

The Ministry of Railways had set up the Technology Mission for Indian Railways (TMIR) as a consortium of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Science & Technology on an investment sharing model for taking up identified railway projects for applied research and use on Indian Railways.

Others Details

• Under the MoU, Ministry of HRD and Ministry of Science & Technology have agreed to fund the TMIR projects to the tune of Rs 75 crore each while Railways and Industries would also be contributing to their respective shares.

• 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 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.

Mission Implementation and Coordination Committee

The committee comprises nominees of Railways, RDSO, Ministry of HRD and Ministry of Science & Technology.

It is headed by Prof. N S Vyas of IIT-Kanpur as Mission Chairman and Alok Kumar, Chief Administration Officer as Co-Chairman.

Significance

Through the consortium approach, Indian Railways would get world-class technologies at reasonable cost.

Academic & Research Institutions would be benefited with applied research and real situation output in the form of new products for immediate use and with the availability of source codes for all such indigenized technologies at very low cost.

The Indian industries will also be gaining in the form of production of new items to be used on Indian Railways with additional export potential, helping in the national cause of revenue generation and on the theme of ‘Make in India’.

Cabinet approves MoU between India, UK to improve public transport