German railway team to visit India to explore tie-up

NEW DELHI: An 11-member expert team from Deutsche Bahn, the German Railway, is coming on a five-day visit to India next month to explore possibilities of technical cooperation with various ongoing projects of Indian Railway.

The team is reaching India on October 8 and slated to visit eight cities including Mumbai, Lucknow, Allahabad, Mughal Sarai, Tughlakabad and Ghaziabad.

The visit is exploratory in nature and the visiting experts would be observing different aspects of Indian railway operation including signalling, track and bridge maintenance, electrification, logistics, terminals and suburban train services here during their visit, an Indian railway official said.

Germany has an advanced railway system and is known for its expertise on signalling, electrification, locomotive manufacturing, logistics, maintainance and operations.

The Indian Railway is also using German technology in its signalling system in some areas and looking for more areas of cooperation, the official said.

As per the tentative programme drawn out by the railway authorities, the German team would visit New Delhi Railway Station, one of the busiest stations, to examine existing terminals and Tughlakabad container depot. The team would also visit Mumbai to observe suburban train operations and existing port connectivity.

The German railway team will visit Lucknow to see the research facilities at Research and Design Standard Organisation (RDSO) and Mughal Sarai to see operation control system.

"While we are looking for upgradation of our research facilities and operation control system, the team would identify the area of cooperation during their visit," said the official.

Indian Railway officials had visited Germany and signed an MoU with German Railway in 2006. This is a follow-up to that visit.

Last month, a three-member expert team from the SNCF, the French Railway, had come to India to discuss the proposed high-speed train corridors.

The ministry is likely to sign an MoU with the French railway for carrying out a feasibility study on the proposed corridors, the official said.

There is also a need for upgrading the rolling stock manufacturing and improving maintenance practices by adopting better technology to cope with rising passenger and freight traffic.